Vaccines against avian influenza and goatpox developed by the Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute (BLRI) will be produced commercially and delivered to farmers, Minister for Fisheries and Livestock and Agriculture Mohammad Aminur Rashid has said.

He spoke as chief guest on Tuesday (11 August) at the ministry's conference room, where the two BLRI vaccines were formally handed over to the Department of Livestock Services for commercial production and extension to farms.

Describing livestock as an important part of the farm economy, the minister said that if diseases in poultry and livestock cannot be controlled, farmers can face heavy financial losses. Diseases such as avian influenza in particular can seriously affect poultry production and farm management, so building the capacity to develop and produce effective vaccines at home is very important.

"Today's event is not just the formality of handing over a vaccine; it is an important step in taking knowledge and innovation achieved in the laboratory to farmers in the field," he said.

He said the vaccines, developed with local technology and research, would play an important role in controlling disease in the livestock and poultry sectors, reducing production costs and cutting dependence on imported vaccines.

BLRI scientists and researchers developed the vaccines using local technology and materials after long research, testing and many difficulties, the minister said. If an innovation completed in the laboratory does not reach ordinary people, its full benefit is lost, so taking research results to commercial production and ensuring their use on farms is now the most important task.

He also said the government is stressing river re-excavation, better water flow, an end to the killing of jatka (young hilsa) and a complete stop to current nets to protect hilsa production and taste, and is working to bring fishers under alternative employment rather than food aid alone.

State Minister for Fisheries and Livestock Sultan Salahuddin Tuku said that with the capacity to produce vaccines at home, import dependence would fall and the country would move gradually towards self-sufficiency. The more self-sufficient Bangladesh becomes in producing medicines and vaccines, the lower production costs will be, with an effect on the prices of food and livestock products, he said.

Senior ministry officials, Director General of the Department of Livestock Services Md Shahjaman Khan, BLRI Director General Dr Shakila Faruque, scientists, university teachers, veterinarians, entrepreneurs, farmer representatives and vaccine manufacturers attended.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.