Protein products to be made affordable, says Matia

Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury speaks at the inaugural of the sixth International Poultry Show and Seminar at Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre in Dhaka yesterday.

In the name of preventing bird flue, the past caretaker government left the poultry industry paralysed by allowing indiscriminate incineration of chickens, said Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury.
She told her audience at an international poultry exhibition function that neighboring India tackled the Avian Influenza, better known as bird flue, by burning birds in only the affected farms.
But the then government in Bangladesh “burnt the birds of any farms within one kilometre of an affected one that rendered a large number of small poultry farmers insolvent or unemployed”.
For the frenzied action of annihilating chickens, the employment in the growing sector halved, from 50-55 lakh to 20-25 lakh, while business farms decreased from 1.5 lakh to 60-70 thousand in 2008, she added.
But the present government has taken all possible and effective measures to protect the poultry industry, she said, adding that all forms of government support will be given to the poultry farms and related farms as the country needs a protein-full nation.
The minister made the observations while addressing the inaugural ceremony of the 6th International Poultry Show and Seminar at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre in the city.
“I will work as an advocate for the industries to the prime minister and the finance minister,” she told the summit meet of the poultry farmers, adding that the local farms, importers, scientists and entrepreneurs should work together to protect the potential protein industry from any disaster.
Matia urged scientists and researchers to invent local vaccines for making the medicines available to poultry farmers.
She made an assurance that for making protein cheaper to the consumers, the government would take initiative to make the relevant commodities and accessories available at cheap prices.
The government would not allow promoting any imported vaccines or creating panic to destroy the poultry industries, the minister cautioned.
She said the contribution of agriculture to GDP is around 22 percent, where livestock gives about 3 percent and some 25 percent came from the poultry industry.
The Worlds Poultry Science Association Bangladesh Branch (WPSA-BB), a scientific establishment, has organised the show. WPSA-BB President Moshiur Rahman presided over the inaugural function.
Fisheries and Livestock Minister M Abdul Latif Biswas, who addressed the function as special guest, said that the government has taken effective action about National Poultry Policy.
Fisheries and Livestock Secretary Mohammad Shah Alam also spoke.
Past president Piet Simons said poultry meat now accounts for about 33 percent of all meat consumed. The average annual per-capita consumption of meat has increased by 2-4 percent over the last 20 years.
WPSA President Dr Bob Pym and poultry farmers, importers, scientists, students and entrepreneurs were present at the function.
WPSA-BB Secretary Dr MA Saleque said 50 percent poultry farms were closed down due to Avian Influenza outbreaks in the last two years and so the poultry industry needed attention.
He also demanded observing “poultry week” to create awareness among the poultry farmers and related business farms.
Prior to the programme, they observed one-minute silence to pay respects to the martyrs slain at the BDR headquarters.
Later, WPSA-BB distributed a scholarship to M Saiful Rahman, a student of Bangladesh Agricultural University, for his outstanding academic results.
A total of 171 stalls of poultry farms, importers, scientists and entrepreneurs are participating in the three-day show, while 37 technical papers would be presented at seminars on the occasion.
The show would remain open from 9am to 5pm daily.