National Desk:
Wide-ranging promotion of model poultry farming can be the effective means of protecting the public health from various health hazards through ensuring safe poultry products.
To make the poultry farming and its products safe and hygienic, all concerned, including poultry farmers, traders, buyers, feed manufactures and sellers should come forward and work together.
The observations came at a workshop titled “Market Linkage with Consumers, Buyers and Model Poultry Farmers to Promote Safe Poultry Products” at Hotel Warisan in Rajshahi city on Tuesday.
Local unit of Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) organised the workshop in association with an issue based project on Food Safety in Poultry Sector and UKaid and British Council.
The meeting discussed and devised ways and means on how to build a strong linkage with farmers, buyers and consumers for the sake of their mutual interests in terms of safe poultry products and safe food.
District Livestock Officer Dr Julfiker Akter Hossain and Deputy Director of the Department of National Consumers Rights Protection Apurba Kumar Adhikary addressed the workshop as the chief and special guests respectively with CAB local unit General Secretary Golam Mostofa Mamun in the chair.
Upazila Livestock Officer Dr Monirul Islam, Senior Vice-president of Rajshahi Chamber of Commerce and Industries Masudur Rahman and Paba Upazila Vice-chairman Wazed Ali Khan also spoke.
CAB Project Field Coordinator Mizanur Rahman gave an overview of the project along with its aims, objectives and implementation strategy during his keynote presentation.
He puts forward a set of recommendations on how to make the poultry sector safe and hygienic.
Using overrated antibiotics in poultry feed is harmful for public health. So, time has come to look into the matter with utmost emphasis.
“We have to ensure safe poultry feed and good poultry farming management,” he added.
To this end, utmost emphasis should be given on adequate measures of bringing all the poultry farmers, traders, feed manufactures, sellers and others concerned under necessary training to enhance their level of awareness in this field.
Besides, all quarters like farmers, hatchery owners, poultry bird sellers, feed meal manufacturers and sellers and the field level officers and staff should work together to this end as there is no alternative to a substantial and sustainable promotion of good poultry practice.
The discussants unequivocally called for promoting bio-safety measures in poultry farming for producing safe poultry meat, mentioning substantial and sustainable promotion of bio-safety measures can be the vital means of curtailing the dependence on antibiotics in the poultry sector.
In his remarks, Dr Julifiker Hossain said consumer protection, in the broader sense, refers to the laws and regulations that ensure fair interaction between service providers and consumers.
The consumers’ rights in the developed nations focus on the right to information, choice, redress and representation but we are deprived of such privileges, he mentioned.
He told the workshop that measures should be taken to bring all the poultry farmers, traders, feed manufactures, sellers and others concerned under necessary training to enhance their knowledge in this field.
All quarters like farmers, hatchery owners, poultry bird sellers, feed meal manufacturers and sellers and the field level officers and staff should come forward and work together to this end, he said.
