Entrepreneurs for launching massive disaster loss recovery programme

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FE Report Country's poultry sector has immense potential as the production and demand of broiler chicken and eggs are increasing, Agriculture Minister Begum Matia Chowdhury said Thursday. "A decade ago the largest farms produced up to 50,000 eggs daily and 10,000 broilers per week. Now the farms produce 500,000 eggs per day and 100,000 broilers per week," the Agriculture Minister said quoting the keynote paper presenter. She said this while addressing the inaugural ceremony of three-day long '8th International Poultry Show and Seminar 2013' as chief guest at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC). World's Poultry Science Association Bangladesh Branch (WPSA-BB) organised the show and seminar. It will conclude on March 2. Fisheries and Livestock Minister Abdul Latif Biswas and State Minister for Fisheries and Livestock Advocate Abdul Hyee also spoke as the special guests at the inaugural session. The Agriculture minister said: "The investment in poultry industry is over Tk 150 billion which has created employment for 5.0 million people in last two decades." "Poultry waste can help fulfil the lost micronutrient of soil due to continuous cultivation of same crop, use of pesticide and chemical fertiliser. Renata Ltd CEO and Managing Director Syed S Kaiser Kabir presented the keynote paper while WPSA-BB president Moshiur Rahman chaired the inaugural session. Mr Kabir said, "Currently there are five grandparent farms producing 280,000 parent stock per week and 32 parent stock farms are producing 5.3 million day- old chicks per week." "Additional, 50,000 commercial farms produce over 9,800 metric tonnes of broiler meat and 125 million pieces of eggs per week," he also said. He said, the poultry sector had faced a challenge due to avian influenza in 2005, 2007 and 2010. The epidemic resulted in the closure of around 50 per cent of poultry farms. The entrepreneurs demanded launching of a massive disaster loss recovery programme, extension of tax exemption status until 2021, bank loan at low-interest rate, and promotion of a more efficient marketing system for rapid development of the sector. Fisheries and Livestock Secretary Uzzwal Bikash Dutta, WPSA secretary general Dr Roel Mulder and WPSA-BB secretary Mohammad Rafiqul, among others, spoke in the inaugural ceremony. There are 170 stalls in the fair. The fair will remain open for visitors from 10 am to 8 pm. Besides, there will be two seminars on poultry sector daily.