The highly potential sector fetched $32.48 million in 1997-98 fiscal year which came down to $13.24 million in 2002-03, the keynote speaker at the seminar mentioned in the paper quoting data of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.

As discussants pointed out the problems of agro-product export, State Minister for Agriculture Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said an inter-ministerial meeting will be held very soon to discuss the problems.

The ministries of agriculture and civil aviation, exporters, farmers and other stakeholders of the sector will attend the meeting, he told the seminar titled 'Export of vegetables and fruits from Bangladesh -- BADC's experiences.'

Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) organised the seminar. AHM Monirul Haque Naqvi, deputy director (export) of BADC, presented the keynote while BADC Chairman Mohammed Ismail presided over.

About the problem of cargo space, the state minister said, "If needed, we can hire a cargo aircraft for exporting fresh vegetables and fruits."

He however said farmers will have to adopt modern post-harvest technology while the grading, packaging, preservation and cool chain systems will have to be improved to boost vegetable and fruits export from the country.

Speaking at the function AFM Fakhrul Islam Munshi, a former minister and leading agro-processor, said handling charges in airport is very high in Bangladesh. The charges should be reduced to help increase export, he said.

Munshi said BADC can play a vital role in developing the standard of horticulture crops in the country but the most important need of agriculture sector is a substantial amount of subsidy for its overall development.

Abul Kashem, a private sector entrepreneur in the agro-processing sector, said, "The quality of our products is not bad, but the main problems are grading, packaging and cargo space, which should be solved immediately."

Presenting the keynote paper, Monirul Haque Naqvi said after 1997-98 fiscal year country's vegetables and fruits export faced a slump because of flood and the sector could not improve in last five years.

In 1997-98, the counter earned $32.48 million from fruits and vegetables export, while the earnings were $17.7 million in the following year, $14 million in 1999-2000, $12.78 million in 2000-01 and $15.32 million in 2001-02.

"The decreasing trend still continues," Naqvi said. "In 2002-03, we exported 9,792 tonnes of vegetables and fruits worth $13.24 million that showed a decrease of 23.27 percent from the previous year's earnings."

To overcome the downtrend Naqvi made a set of recommendations including formulating a fruits and vegetables export policy, diversification of export shipment, organic farming, export support programme and market research.

Bangladesh exports horticulture products to the US, UK and other European countries as well as some Middle Eastern and East Asian countries.