Anisul Islam Noor :
The country has made a record in sweet-water fish production in the world attaining self-reliancy.
Bangladesh presently stands fourth in producing sweet-water fish, according to report of the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO). According to the report, China is first in fish farming followed by India and Myanmar respectively.
Experts say that the fish farming reached this level of success after crossing many hurdles. No cooperation is extended to the fish farmers to avail the government’s agricultural loans. In the 2013-14 fiscal, fish farmers received 10 percent only of the 140 billion taka allocated as agricultural loans.
There are government storehouses for rice and jute, but no proper permanent cold storage facilities for the fish farmers. Even so, FAO sees Bangladesh as one of the countries that holds the most potential.
Former fisheries secretary Z Karim says, Bangladesh is the best place in the world for fresh water fish cultivation. The 25million hectares of open water bodies and thousands of ponds in the villages have created a potential that hasn’t been utilised in full. If the government pays more attention to fish cultivation and
assists the farmers, Bangladesh could well become the No. 1 country in fish production, experts said.
According to FAO, Bangladesh has been among the top five fish cultivation countries for many years. In 2006, it jumped to second position, overtaking India. From 2004 till 2014, Bangladesh’s fish production increased by 53 percent.
Bangladesh Statistics Bureau (BBS)’s latest economic census says that in the 2013-14 fiscal, the country produced approximately 3.46 million tonnes of fish of which about two million tonnes were farmed. With the protection of hilsa fries and other initiatives, production of the country’s most popular fish hilsa has gone up from 52,000 tonnes to 350,000 tonnes.
With prices of fish remaining within the reach of the common people, there has been a 100 percent increased in per head consumption of fish over the past 10 years. According to a survey of 2010, the annual per head consumption of fish in Bangladesh is 12 kg. The people of Chittagong consume the most fish at an annual 17 kg per head and the least is in Rangpur at 7.5 kg per head. Annual fish consumption globally is 22.4kg per head.
The new varieties of fish bred by Bangladesh’s fishery experts and the rapid expansion in this regard have given rise to this significant increase in fish production. There has been a virtual revolution in fish farming in the ponds at Mymensingh, Bogra and Comilla and in the fish farms of the southwest regions.
With fish farming having increased, over the past 10 years fish consumption has almost doubled. Fish exports have gone up by 135 percent. In the 2013-14 fiscal, Bangladesh’s export earnings from frozen fish went up by 17.35 percent to Tk 41.49billion.
In the eighties, the new varieties of pangash, ruhit, carp (katal) and telapia fish produced by the Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute won instant popularity among the consumers. In recent years there has been an increase in Cat fish (shing), barbel (magur) and walking fish (shol) farming.
In 1990, a total of 193 thousand tonnes of farmed fish was produced. In 2000 this increased to 657 thousand tonnes. And in 2014 this reached one million tonnes.
Mymensingh and Comilla districts have created a stir in fish production. Fish farming in Khulna, Jessore, Satkhira, Bagerhat, Chittagong, Chokoria and Barisal divisions have been a boon to the economy of those areas as well as to the economy of the country as a whole. Shrimps produced in those regions are now the country’s second largest export item.
There was a time when eating fish was synonymous with being a Bengali. Those days are back again. According to FAO, 57 percent of the protein consumption of Bangladesh’s population comes from fish.
According to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), the price of all items produced in the country has gone up by two to 36 percent. Only the price of ruhit, pangash and tilapia has not gone up. In fact, the price of ruhit and magur has actually gone down somewhat. Increased production has led to decreased prices.
Akhter Ahmed, the Bangladesh country head of the US-based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), says that this success in fish cultivation has come about without any master planning of the government. It is the courage and creativity of the fish farmers that has been pivotal to this success.
They take the market demand into consideration and farm fish accordingly, for which the success has been sustainable.
FAO predicts Bangladesh will be the first of the four countries to achieve massive success in fish production by the year 2022. This is followed by Thailand, India and China.
According to FAO, Bangladesh stands 25th in global standing for catching sea fish.
The country has made a record in sweet-water fish production in the world attaining self-reliancy.
Bangladesh presently stands fourth in producing sweet-water fish, according to report of the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO). According to the report, China is first in fish farming followed by India and Myanmar respectively.
Experts say that the fish farming reached this level of success after crossing many hurdles. No cooperation is extended to the fish farmers to avail the government’s agricultural loans. In the 2013-14 fiscal, fish farmers received 10 percent only of the 140 billion taka allocated as agricultural loans.
There are government storehouses for rice and jute, but no proper permanent cold storage facilities for the fish farmers. Even so, FAO sees Bangladesh as one of the countries that holds the most potential.
Former fisheries secretary Z Karim says, Bangladesh is the best place in the world for fresh water fish cultivation. The 25million hectares of open water bodies and thousands of ponds in the villages have created a potential that hasn’t been utilised in full. If the government pays more attention to fish cultivation and
assists the farmers, Bangladesh could well become the No. 1 country in fish production, experts said.
According to FAO, Bangladesh has been among the top five fish cultivation countries for many years. In 2006, it jumped to second position, overtaking India. From 2004 till 2014, Bangladesh’s fish production increased by 53 percent.
Bangladesh Statistics Bureau (BBS)’s latest economic census says that in the 2013-14 fiscal, the country produced approximately 3.46 million tonnes of fish of which about two million tonnes were farmed. With the protection of hilsa fries and other initiatives, production of the country’s most popular fish hilsa has gone up from 52,000 tonnes to 350,000 tonnes.
With prices of fish remaining within the reach of the common people, there has been a 100 percent increased in per head consumption of fish over the past 10 years. According to a survey of 2010, the annual per head consumption of fish in Bangladesh is 12 kg. The people of Chittagong consume the most fish at an annual 17 kg per head and the least is in Rangpur at 7.5 kg per head. Annual fish consumption globally is 22.4kg per head.
The new varieties of fish bred by Bangladesh’s fishery experts and the rapid expansion in this regard have given rise to this significant increase in fish production. There has been a virtual revolution in fish farming in the ponds at Mymensingh, Bogra and Comilla and in the fish farms of the southwest regions.
With fish farming having increased, over the past 10 years fish consumption has almost doubled. Fish exports have gone up by 135 percent. In the 2013-14 fiscal, Bangladesh’s export earnings from frozen fish went up by 17.35 percent to Tk 41.49billion.
In the eighties, the new varieties of pangash, ruhit, carp (katal) and telapia fish produced by the Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute won instant popularity among the consumers. In recent years there has been an increase in Cat fish (shing), barbel (magur) and walking fish (shol) farming.
In 1990, a total of 193 thousand tonnes of farmed fish was produced. In 2000 this increased to 657 thousand tonnes. And in 2014 this reached one million tonnes.
Mymensingh and Comilla districts have created a stir in fish production. Fish farming in Khulna, Jessore, Satkhira, Bagerhat, Chittagong, Chokoria and Barisal divisions have been a boon to the economy of those areas as well as to the economy of the country as a whole. Shrimps produced in those regions are now the country’s second largest export item.
There was a time when eating fish was synonymous with being a Bengali. Those days are back again. According to FAO, 57 percent of the protein consumption of Bangladesh’s population comes from fish.
According to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), the price of all items produced in the country has gone up by two to 36 percent. Only the price of ruhit, pangash and tilapia has not gone up. In fact, the price of ruhit and magur has actually gone down somewhat. Increased production has led to decreased prices.
Akhter Ahmed, the Bangladesh country head of the US-based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), says that this success in fish cultivation has come about without any master planning of the government. It is the courage and creativity of the fish farmers that has been pivotal to this success.
They take the market demand into consideration and farm fish accordingly, for which the success has been sustainable.
FAO predicts Bangladesh will be the first of the four countries to achieve massive success in fish production by the year 2022. This is followed by Thailand, India and China.
According to FAO, Bangladesh stands 25th in global standing for catching sea fish.
