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Bangladesh making action plan to boost exports of farm produce

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Bangladesh making action plan to boost exports of farm produce

REZAUL KARIM | Published: March 07, 2021 09:03:57 | Updated: March 07, 2021 09:53:03

Bangladesh making action plan to boost exports of farm produce



The government has decided to prepare an action plan with a view to boosting outbound shipments of the country's agricultural products, officials said.

It had already initiated a move to form national committee, steering committee and subcommittee to make ready the plan.

The decision came at a view-exchange meeting organised by the Department of Agricultural Marketing (DAM) under the Ministry of Agriculture with its director general (DG) Mohammad Yousuf in the chair.

Representatives from the sectors concerned including Bangladesh Fruit, Vegetable and Allied Products Exporters' Association (BFVAPEA) were present in the meeting.

The action plan would focus on a long-term target to further increase exports of agricultural goods, the officials said.

When contacted, DG Mohammad Yousuf said, "We have started preparing a proposed action plan to increase the volume of exports of agricultural products. The proposed draft will be finalised after discussions with the stakeholders concerned."

He expressed the hope that the volume of exports of agricultural produce would increase if the plan is implemented properly.

The export volume of agricultural products (processed and fresh) was only 2.0 per cent of the country's total exports, according to the DAM documents.

In the fiscal year 2019-20, the country earned US$ 849.1 million by exporting of such items.
Of the volume, only US$ 163 million or 0.41 per cent was earned from export of vegetables.

On the other hand, the volume of fruit exports was very negligible. But the country had secured the third and seventh position in production of vegetables and fruits respectively in the world.

The government had identified agriculture as a priority sector in the current export policy. But it was not possible to export vegetables and fruits despite their surplus production in the country due to existing complexities, the documents read.

Bangladesh produces a huge variety of agricultural products. Its high-value crops such as fruits and vegetables have potential to grab the markets across the globe, a senior official of the DAM said.

The government had formulated agricultural marketing act-2018 to overcome the existing challenges of the sector. In the act, the DAM had been assigned to increase the export volume of agricultural items through communicating with the exporters of such products, the documents said.

The state-entity opened an export cell to expedite the exports of agricultural produce.
It had also drafted an agricultural marketing policy-2021. In the policy, emphasis was put on increasing the exports of farm products.

A 21-point recommendation including removal of existing roadblocks to exports of agricultural products was placed in the meeting.

Besides, the meeting had decided to communicate with Bangladesh embassies to get information about the demand and import criteria of agricultural items of respective countries.

rezamumu@gmail.com

 
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Too much fresh vegetable is wasted because of lack of proper refrigeration and preservation of fresh produce.

OTOH there is little effort to process fruit and vegetables before they spoil.

The number of food processors (PRAN, Square) is increasing, but far from ideal.

Govt. should subsidize and reduce tariff on purchase of refrigeration vans and cold storage plants.

Food Processing exports should also be subsidized to achieve export success as all countries in the locale other than Bangladesh do it. Canning and bottling plant imports should also be subsidized.
Look at Thailand, they exported food products worth about $35 Billion in 2019. They are the ninth largest Halal food exporter country. Their preserved fruit and vegetable exports in USA is visible in every ethnic market in the West Coast.


 
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sizable minority of BD population work in agriculture, however this sector has the lowest value addition and contributes the least per capita to the economy. Agri-export is one way to make the sector more profitable. BD needs to look to thailand and see how they have done exactly that.
 
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sizable minority of BD population work in agriculture, however this sector has the lowest value addition and contributes the least per capita to the economy. Agri-export is one way to make the sector more profitable. BD needs to look to thailand and see how they have done exactly that.
Farming is highly vulnerable to climate change. Bangladeshis should reduce carb intake and switch to a more balance diet of high yield food.

Capital intensive high yield farming will ensure:
  1. Higher margins for farmers
  2. Healthier population
  3. Land freed up for secondary industries which will create good paying jobs
  4. Kill farming labour shortage
 
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Farming is highly vulnerable to climate change. Bangladeshis should reduce carb intake and switch to a more balance diet of high yield food.

Capital intensive high yield farming will ensure:
  1. Higher margins for farmers
  2. Healthier population
  3. Land freed up for secondary industries which will create good paying jobs
  4. Kill farming labour shortage

There's actually been a "silent revolution" in terms of aquaculture in Bangladesh, with much more room to grow. We should be one of the top 3 producers of cultured fish about now. Additionally, there's a lot of prospects for offshore farming in the Bay of Bengal, an opportunity that hasn't been utilized so far. Export opportunity for lucrative farmed saltwater species such as Salmon should be opening up in a few years. I plan to invest in the sector once I'm done my undergrad, in about 2 years or so.
 
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There's actually been a "silent revolution" in terms of aquaculture in Bangladesh, with much more room to grow. We should be one of the top 3 producers of cultured fish about now. Additionally, there's a lot of prospects for offshore farming in the Bay of Bengal, an opportunity that hasn't been utilized so far. Export opportunity for lucrative farmed saltwater species such as Salmon should be opening up in a few years. I plan to invest in the sector once I'm done my undergrad, in about 2 years or so.
First things first we should get into deep sea trawling. It is a no brainer. Massive source of nutrion and high value exports.
 
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Bangladeshis should reduce carb intake and switch to a more balance diet of high yield food.

This is already happening. New generation farmers are no longer happy with rice farming.

They are going into fruit orchards and cash crops like coffee, cashew nuts etc. (in hill tract areas) in addition to high-spoil vegetables and fruit like avocados and strawberries closer to Dhaka. Rare stuff like dragon-fruit, longan, rambutan are also being grown.

If you want - go take a look at Sheikh Seraj' channel on YouTube. A lot of his videos have subtitles, so non-Bengali speakers can possibly get some value as well...

 
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Some interesting videos from Shykh Seraj' channel.

Tulips


Greenhouse and Hydroponics related - which are very popular in Bangladesh right now.


Dragonfruit production

 
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This is already happening. New generation farmers are no longer happy with rice farming.

They are going into fruit orchards and cash crops like coffee, cashew nuts etc. (in hill tract areas) in addition to high-spoil vegetables and fruit like avocados and strawberries closer to Dhaka. Rare stuff like dragon-fruit, longan, rambutan are also being grown.

If you want - go take a look at Sheikh Seraj' channel on YouTube. A lot of his videos have subtitles, so non-Bengali speakers can possibly get some value as well...

I am aware of these but us stupid Bengalis need to change our eating habits too for any meaningful change. I still meet idiots who love having rice 3 times a day.

We should eat more seafood, veggies fruits, dairy (if not lactose intolerant), lean protein, etc..

The average Bengalis plate is still 3/4ths white rice.

If we don't change our diet, these entrepreneurs will remain fringe actors forever.
 
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I am aware of these but us stupid Bengalis need to change our eating habits too for any meaningful change. I still meet idiots who love having rice 3 times a day.

We should eat more seafood, veggies fruits, dairy (if not lactose intolerant), lean protein, etc..

The average Bengalis plate is still 3/4ths white rice.

If we don't change our diet, these entrepreneurs will remain fringe actors forever.


Plus also Bengalis need to start eating more wheat based products , Bengalis are getting taller but can quicken up the process much faster.


Rice isn't bad but again there's always something better , look at South Korea they eat rice but they switched on to other high protein based foods.
 
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Plus also Bengalis need to start eating more wheat based products , Bengalis are getting taller but can quicken up the process much faster.


Rice isn't bad but again there's always something better , look at South Korea they eat rice but they switched on to other high protein based foods.
No, wheat is mostly carb. Wheat does not grow well in BD anyway.

No point in creating tall, diseased, low IQ people. Need a balanced diet for overall healthy being.

The East Asians don't eat rice like lunatic Bengalis do: rice is almost a side dish in their meals. See below photos for comparision of home cooked meals (i.e., food eaten most often). Observe the difference in proportions of rice in Bangladeshi vs Korean diets.


Typical Bangladeshi home cooked meals:
meal-bangladesh-rice-alo-vorta-dhal-shim-borta-chicken-cur-curry-187414967.jpg

typical-bangladeshi-food-dish-163458154 (1).jpg



vs

Typical Korean home cooked meals:

c283T244_o.jpg
bangsang2.jpg

 
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No, wheat is mostly carb. Wheat does not grow well in BD anyway.

No point in creating tall, diseased, low IQ people. Need a balanced diet for overall healthy being.

The East Asians don't eat rice like lunatic Bengalis do: rice is almost a side dish in their meals. See below photos for comparision of home cooked meals (i.e., food eaten most often). Observe the difference in proportions of rice in Bangladeshi vs Korean diets.


Typical Bangladeshi home cooked meals:
View attachment 723113

View attachment 723114


vs

Typical Korean home cooked meals:

View attachment 723116View attachment 723117

Damn those Korean items look healthy, especially Pan chan and Kim-Chi items ! :-)
 
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