Business leaders of livestock sector have urged the government not to allow beef import to safeguard local industry.
Expressing concern over move to allow import of the redmeat on Monday, they requested the government to refrain from taking such initiative for the sake of the local industry.
"Rural economy, leather and leather goods sector, soil-health, financial sector, sanitary and phytosanitary issues, other livestock related sectors and also the country's whole food security will be seriously affected if beef import is allowed", said Dr M Nazrul Islam, president of Animal Health Companies Association of Bangladesh (AHCAB).
The concern was expressed at a press conference at the National Press Club in the capital, jointly organised by AHCAB, Bangladesh Dairy Farmers' Association (BDFA), Bangladesh Veterinary Association (BVA), Bangladesh Poultry Industries Association (BPIA), Bengal Meat and Bangladesh Agro Feed Ingredients Importers & Traders Association.
General Manger of Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) Dr Sharif Ahmed Chowdhury presented a keynote paper titled "Exporting Garments in Exchange of Meat - Can We Afford that?" at the press briefing.
Dr Nazrul Islam said it will be illogical to import frozen beef in the context of current meat sufficiency in Bangladesh, "The country cannot afford exporting garments in exchange for beef," he viewed.
Nearly 60 million people across the country partly or fully and 14.8 million farming households will be affected, if beef import is allowed, said Chowdhury in his keynote paper.
"Import of meat (bovine, ovine, caprine or poultry) should be halted to protect our farmers under WTO arrangement," it recommended.
Briefing the reporters, AHCAB president Nazrul Islam mentioned that Bangladesh has already been self-sufficient in beef production and local cattle were in surplus during Eid-ul-Azha in the past two years.
There is an annual demand of 7.297 million metric tonnes of meat in the country estimated as per the demand of 120 gram of meat per head while a total of 7.514 million metric tonnes of meat, led by chicken, were produced in fiscal year 2018-19 (FY '19) which is in surplus, he said.
A good number of youth and entrepreneurs will be jobless if the authorities in the country allow frozen beef import, Nazrul added.
General secretary of BDFA Shah Emran and joint secretary general of BPIA Khondokar Md. Mohsin were present at the press briefing, among others.
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