Farida Akhter, adviser to the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, Friday said eggs should be included in school feeding programmes.
The adviser made the comments at a discussion held at the Krishibid Institution Bangladesh in the capital marking the World Egg Day 2025.
With support from the Bangladesh Poultry Industries Central Council and the World's Poultry Science Association Bangladesh Branch, the Department of Livestock Services organised the event.
"The Mighty Egg: Packed with Natural Nutrition" is the theme of this year's egg day.
Speaking at Friday's event as the chief guest, Farida said many poor children did not get enough nutrition and this gap could be filled if eggs were added to school meals.
She said everyone in the country was connected to eggs, both in terms of production and consumption.
While not everyone could afford beef, eggs were easily affordable, the adviser said.
Children should get proper nutrition by the age of six. So eggs must be included in school feeding programmes, she said.
She also noted that 80 per cent of eggs came from small farmers, many of whom were poor rural women raising a few chicken to support family nutrition.
Farida expressed concern that pesticide use in agriculture was threatening poultry farming.
She also said duck eggs from the haor (wetland) areas were not being promoted enough and more publicity was needed.
Regarding soybean, she said the imported one was genetically modified and could affect health.
Therefore, Bangladesh should focus more on corn production instead, and ensure that eggs were safe to eat, she further said.
The discussion was chaired by Dr Md Abu Sufian, director general of the Department of Livestock Services.
Other guests included Dr Shakila Faruq, director general of the Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute, and Mosiur Rahman, former president of the World's Poultry Science Association Bangladesh Branch.
Two Bangladesh Agricultural University professors - Ilyas Hossain and Mahmudul Hasan Sikder - presented a paper.
Dr Md Abu Sufian mentioned that 0.18 million small farmers received direct incentives during the Covid-19 pandemic and support for their production was still ongoing.
Dr Shakila Faruq said people should consume protein based on their weight and age.
She said farm eggs were larger and had more nutrients than local ones, but there was no difference among white, brown, duck, or quail eggs in terms of protein.
According to her, local eggs taste better.
Professor Dr Mahmudul Hasan Sikder said feed accounted for 60-70 per cent of egg production costs and a roadmap for the poultry industry was needed since there was no national production target for eggs.
He said the production of eggs had increased to 40 million pieces a day from 20 million a decade back.
Dr ABM Khalequzzaman said the price of one-day-old chicks fluctuated a lot, which was why the cost was fixed at Tk 53 (including other expenses) last year to keep the market stable.
Mosiur Rahman said 80 per cent of eggs were produced by small farmers, and they needed more support.
Currently, training for 600 farmers had been arranged in four divisions, and another 600 would be trained soon in two more, he said.
He also mentioned that middlemen should be cut to deliver eggs directly to consumers and egg hoarders should be punished.
Intelligence offices were set up inside farms during the previous government, which made production difficult, he added.
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