Dr. Md. Nure-Alam:
Agriculture is the main source of strength and hope for a nation. However, the term “agriculture” includes agro-farming, livestock and fisheries. The foundation stone of this sector in the independent Bangladesh was laid by Father of the Nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, as he gave respect to the agriculturists and put special importance to the agricultural education and research. Following his footsteps, under the wise leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the country today is now self-sufficient in food and meat production, near self-sufficient in milk and egg production, fifth in the world in goat production and has become role model in fish production. The key to understand the importance of a sector is to measure its contributions to GDP. Accurate and factual information helps in understanding the importance of a sector, just as it helps policy makers in identifying the important sectors and making the right decisions.
Although the contribution of the agro-fisheries sector is well reflected in the data, but the data of the livestock sector is not accurately revealed. The picture would be unrealistic if we compare the information of fisheries as a constant to highlight the contribution of livestock. According to the annual report of the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock for the year 2018-19, about 80pc of the total animal protein supply of the country comes from the livestock sector. According to the report- fisheries production is 43.81 lakh tons, meat production is 75.14 lakh tons, milk production is 99.23 lakh tons and egg production is 1711 crore. While the dairy industry is an emerging and established industry, the poultry sector is one of the largest sectors in the country.
Compared to the contribution of fisheries, there is no chance that the contribution of livestock to the GDP seems realistic. Considering only meat production, the contribution of livestock is 1.7 times more than fish, excluding milk and eggs! But the contribution of livestock to the gross domestic product is only 1.79pc, of fisheries is 3.07pc!
Our rural economy is revolving around the livestock. Thousands of local and foreign companies are now doing business in this sector. More than 500 types of food are made from broilers alone, hundreds of products from milk! Thousands of feed mills, medicine production, imports, marketing, hatcheries, breeders, parents, commercial farms, sales, transportation systems as well as chicken and meat processing plants are being set up. The use of milk and eggs in bakery products is universal. Poultry and some other livestock industries are acting as living banks in the rural economy. It is not only meeting the people’s nutritional needs, but also contributing to women empowerment, education and health needs. Due to the changing eating habits, people are leaning towards animal meat day by day. In addition to giving nutrition security, 20pc of the total labour force is directly and 50pc is indirectly given employment in this sector. The sector thus can be the largest source of employment for the educated unemployed.
Leather and leather products of the country are important by-products of livestock. Contributions to industrial production and GDP are 2pc and 0.6pc, respectively. Contributions made for export in 2017-18, the leather industry is just after garments. In 2017, the Bangladesh government declared leather, leather goods and leather footwear as “Products of the Year”. According to the Ministry of Commerce’s leather sector export outline, the target is set to become amongst the top 10 countries in the world in leather exports by 2025 and export of 500 crore US Dollar by 2021. (Export Outline of Leather Sector, Ministry of Commerce, 2/19). However, it is frustrating not to consider such important and promising sector as a contribution of livestock. It is generally understood that the amount of skin is negligible compared to the whole body of livestock animals! If the contribution of leather industry to GDP is 0.6pc, then how can the contribution of whole animal be less than leather? Maybe we will talk about value addition when it comes to processed leather products, but what will be the total contribution to GDP with milk, eggs and meat? Therefore the real contribution of livestock to GDP will be much more than the current data.
(Dr. Nure-Alam is Veterinary Surgeon, Department of Livestock Services. Email: [email protected])
