Thrust on promoting agro-SMEs in Sylhet

FE Team | Published: April 19, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

Treasurer of BAPA Iqtadul Hoque speaking at the Regional Meeting of agro-processors in Sylhet on Saturday.

Despite having much potential the number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the agro-processing sector in Sylhet Division is less than that of other regions of Bangladesh for various reasons.
These include lack of linkage with relevant associations, absence of motivation, advocacy and training, and the socio-economic realities of the region from where a large number of people live abroad as expatriates. Labour cost in Sylhet is also high.
Speakers at a regional meeting of agro-SMEs organised by Bangladesh Agro-Processors' Association (BAPA) in Sylhet made such observations on Saturday, said a press release.
The Sylhet Regional Meeting for the SMEs in the agro-processing sector was held under the auspices of a BAPA-EU project titled "Strengthening the capacity of BAPA to enhance competitiveness of its member SMEs involved in agro-processing."
The objective of the Sylhet Regional Meeting was to know regional prospects of and barriers to agro-processing sector of Sylhet Division to address those in cooperation with the government and other development partners.
The BAPA member SMEs, representatives of the Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BWCCI) and Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI), Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) attended the meeting with Mohammad Abdul Hamid, member of BAPA Executive Committee, in the chair.
Treasurer of BAPA Iqtadul Hoque spoke at the seminar as the chief guest, while Farida Alam of BWCCI was present as the special guest.
The participants raised some demands in the meeting. These include financial support from government including reduction of bank loan interest rate for SMEs which is now about 13 per cent, cooperation of BAPA and others to increase number of entrepreneurs in Sylhet and to hold such meetings to boost linkage and networking for agro-SMEs and conduct of training workshop.
With support from the European Union (EU) under the SME Competitiveness Grant Scheme, BAPA is implementing two projects under the contracting authority of the Ministry of Industries (MoI).
The other project is "The road to sustainable agro-SME development in the target clusters of Bangladesh through enhancing entrepreneurial ability and technical skills." Tradecraft Exchange-Bangladesh is the partner organisation in the process of implementation of the project.