Photo: STAR

Speakers at a meet the press yesterday urged the government to prepare a strategic plan categorising the poultry farms through a technical committee to strengthen their biosecurity management and save the country's overall poultry industry.
They also urged the government to strengthen the surveillance system by setting up coordination among the government, private and non-government organisations.
The press meet was organised jointly by Watchdog Bangladesh and Bangladesh branch of World's Poultry Science Association (WAPSA) at the National Press Club in the city with a view to removing bird flu panic from the mind of the consumers by sensitising the media.
Applauding the government for taking all cautionary measures to contain the spread of bird flu, the speakers said all the poultry farms should be registered.
They said as of February 27 last, some 191 poultry farms were affected with Avian Influenza (AI) and 50 percent of the country's total farms were closed down due to bird flu panic and other reasons causing a loss of more than Tk 4100 crore.
The owners of the affected poultry farms should be provided with soft bank loans so that they can restart their business, the speakers added.
While reading out a written speech, MA Saleque, secretary of WAPSA's Bangladesh branch, said 15 percent of total animal protein in the country comes from poultry.
" There are around 1.5 lakh small, medium and large poultry farms in the country which provide 3.2 lakh metric tons of meat and 5200 million pieces of egg," he said, adding that it is a must to protect the flourishing industry from ruination.
Moshiur Rahman, president of WAPSA Bangladesh branch, said, " Every month the industry is losing Tk 800 crore. So far 25 lakh people have lost their jobs due to bird flu outbreak and further one lakh will lose their jobs if we fail to take immediate measures to protect the poultry industry."
Sajjad Hossain, chief executive of Watchdog Bangladesh, said as the food security system of our country is very poor, it should be strengthened to save the poultry sector.