Bangladesh poultry industry will need an investment of Tk50-60,000 crore by 2021 to meet daily local demand of egg and meat, the entreprenuers said.
They sought cheaper funding opportunities so the sector could take up the challenge making the necessary investment.
They were speaking at a workshop titled “The challenges of animal protein demand by 2021: public-private policy planning” in Dhaka yesterday, organised by the Bangladesh Poultry Industries Coordination Committee (BPICC).
Addressing the event, the trade analysts and the sector experts also supported the entrepreneurs’ call.
According to the local poultry industry people, Bangladesh, by 2021, will need to produce 45m pieces of egg and around 4,000 tonnes of meat daily.
“The poultry sector needs the government’s financial support to increase investment to Tk50,000 crore by 2021 from Tk25,000 crore now,” said BPICC Convenor Mashiur Rahman.
He said they were preparing for exporting their products and the government should simplify export certification system. The BPICC chief announced “Poultry Media Award” in March, 2016.
Fisheries and Livestock Minister Muhammed Sayedul Hoque sought to get loans at single-digit interest rate for the sector.
“The interest rate in the neighboring country is single-digit, so Bangladesh also should bring down the rate to a single-digit one to increase investment,” he said.
Sayedul Hoque said the poultry industry would play a vital role in supplying animal protein by the year 2021.
“In that case, the supply of eggs and meat will have to be increased as these are sources of cheap protien.”
Subir Boiragi, a research fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), said Bangladesh’s poultry industry had been growing at 5% over the last few years, but it would be very tough to meet the demand of 2021 if the growth continued at the present rate.
“Innovative technology, government’s subsidy and having a strong data-base will help this sector expand further,” he emphasised.
FBCCI President Abdul Matlub Ahmad underscored the need to launch insurance system for the poultry sector as it suffered losses due to crises like bird-flu attack.
“Since the poultry sector is the best option at this moment to supply maximum protein at cheap prices, the government should give special focus on the expansion of the sector,” he said.
Shamsul Arefin Khaled, joint convenor of BPICC, urged the government to give some tax benefits to make the struggling industry sustainable.
Among the raw materials of the poultry industry, only corn is produced in Bangladesh. But the locally produced corn can meet 40% of the demand.
Although more than 50% of meat demand depends on import, the whole of egg demand is now met by local supplies.
