Harness export potentials of agri products
Accounting for less than one percent of processed agricultural products imported by the US, Bangladesh has enormous scope to grab a bigger stake in the US market. Agro-processing refers to the sub-sector of manufacturing that makes use of primary materials and intermediate goods from agricultural, fisheries and forestry-based sectors.
Bangladesh is trying to increase agricultural product export to developed countries, such as by fulfilling preconditions and adopting Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) for safe food production. The GAP, as defined by the Food and Agriculture Organisation, are a collection of principles to apply for on-farm production and post-production processes, resulting in safe and healthy food and non-food agricultural products, while taking into account economic, social and environmental sustainability.
There is a lot of potential for the export of agricultural products. To make full use of this potential, work is going on to keep agricultural products safe, from production in the field to shipment. Bangladesh has made significant progress in attaining food safety and security in recent years. Moreover, the annual sale of processed food in Bangladesh reached $2.5 billion in 2019 and grew at an average of 8 per cent per year.
As the drive for economy and export diversification intensifies in Bangladesh, agriculture is likely to undergo a transformation as the fourth industrial revolution-focused technologies such as robotics, remote sensing, big data analytics, blockchain and global positioning system are embraced. It was a grave concern that Bangladesh’s food safety hygiene and administration were yet to be of the international standard.
Owing to high population density and underdeveloped infrastructure, the incidence of food-borne diseases and other food safety risks is quite high in Bangladesh. Efficient food safety surveillance and control systems in the country were needed to address the food safety risks prevailing in domestic production, import and export channels.
