Sheds made of cement sheets can increase livestock production by Tk 12,300 crore

Livestock production can increase by around Tk 12,300 crore if sheds made of cement sheets are used in the sector, experts said today.

The use of cement sheets will help in increasing the production of egg and meat and reduce the cost of production, they said.

The reduction in the cost of production will not only help marginal farms to return to making profits, but also enable the consumers to have eggs, milk and meat at a lower price, they said.

The egg production will increase by 11 percent, meat at 7 percent and milk by 4 percent if sheds made with cement sheets are used in the livestock sector, said Musaddique Hossain, president of the Bangladesh Cement Sheet Manufacturing Association (BCSMA).

Currently, five factories have invested Tk 1,000 crore in the cement sheet making sector and they produce 3.65 lakh tonnes of cement sheet in the country, he also said.

Hossain shared the information at a discussion on "Green construction and how cement sheet is transforming Bangladesh's agricultural economy", held at the Economic Reporters Forum (ERF) in the capital.

The ERF and BCSMA jointly organised the discussion.

A silent revolution is going on in case of the use of cement sheets in the production of cattle and poultry across the country, said Waeez R Hossain, deputy managing director of Anwar Group of Industries.

"The use of cement sheets in the country has increased the production of eggs, milk and meat by about 9 percent. Cement sheets not only protect fish and livestock from diseases but also reduce mortality by about 10 percent," he said.

Nathu Ram Sarker, executive director of the Agricultural Research Foundation, presented the keynote paper at the event.