Poultry show to kick off in Dhaka Thursday

An international poultry show as well as a seminar will begin in the capital on Thursday to help raise protein consumption in Bangladesh and explore global opportunities.

Some 147 local and international organisations will participate in the three-day show at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre, said Moshiur Rahman, president of World's Poultry Sciences Association's Bangladesh Branch (WPSA-BB).

“The poultry show will play a vital role in Bangladesh's mission to fulfil demand for chicken and egg in line with the poultry sector's vision for 2020,” he said. Some 47 papers will be presented at the seminar.

Rahman announced the exhibition's schedule at a roundtable on "safe food and nutrition for future generation: role of poultry industry in Bangladesh" that was organised by WPSA-BB in Dhaka yesterday.

Bangladesh is lagging behind in the nutritious food supply target although it has significantly improved health indicators in achieving its millennium development goals, livestock and nutrition experts said at the event.  

On an average, every person in the country needs to increase consumption by 26 grams chicken and 23 grams of egg a day, to better health indicators. Currently, nearly 38.7 percent of children aged between 0 to 59 months are stunted, 35.1 percent are under-weight and 16.3 percent are thin, they said.

Although the numbers of mothers and children have fallen, compared to the past, progress is not encouraging.

The poor eat very low amounts of eggs and chicken in Bangladesh, said Nazma Shaheen, professor at the Nutrition and Food Science Institute of Dhaka University.

“It is imperative to expand the poultry sector if we want to fulfil the demand for animal protein as per recommendations of United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Health Organisation,” she said.

M Gias Uddin, chief of animal health department of Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute, said, “There will be 22 crore people in Bangladesh by 2050. If we want to meet their food demand, we have to depend on the country's poultry industry.”

Egg is such a product that has no scope of adulteration, he added.

Rahman of WPSA-BB said the government and private entrepreneurs need to work together to ensure safe and nutritious food for future generations.

Poultry industry operators have recently set a target to double their investment by 2020 from the existing Tk 25,000 crore to increase protein consumption in the country.