Khulna Correspondent:
A training titled “Developing the skills of producing diverse value-added products of Bagda/Venami shrimp” was held in Khulna on Tuesday.
The training was held at the Fisheries Training Shrimp Tower under the joint initiative of the Business Promotion Council (BPC) and the Bangladesh Frozen Foods Exporters Association (BFFEA).
The training was chaired by Sheikh Kamrul Alam, Vice President of the Bangladesh Frozen Foods Exporters Association, and the chief guest was Zeenat Ara Ahmed, Director (Deputy Secretary) of the Export Promotion Bureau. Palash Kumar Ghosh, Assistant Director of the Business Promotion Council, was the special guest.
In his inaugural speech, the chief guest stated that the shrimp and fisheries sector is the largest export sector in the southern part of the country and one of the significant partners in the country’s economic development, and assured that the Export Promotion Bureau would do everything necessary to develop this sector.
In his speech, the president said that more than 5 million people are involved in this sector, most of whom are women. In the past, this sector was the second largest export sector. Due to the indifference and bureaucratic complications of the previous government, the cultivation of the more productive Venami variety of shrimp was not approved, so despite having more land for shrimp cultivation compared to India, the country is far behind in production.
Stating that now the government has approved the cultivation of the more productive Venami shrimp, he said that the production of Bagda shrimp per hectare is 500 kg, while Venami is 15,000 kg.
He expressed hope that with the cooperation of the government, it will be possible to earn foreign exchange equivalent to 5 billion dollars from this sector in the future.
Officers involved in the production of value-added shrimp products from frozen fish processing factories in Khulna, Satkhira and Bagerhat regions, students from Khulna University and other universities, hatchery workers, journalists and many others participated in the training.
