A policy will be framed to control the price of animal feed, Fisheries and Livestock Adviser Farida Akhter has said, adding that steps have been taken to lower electricity prices for the sector in order to bring feed prices down.

The adviser was answering questions at a press conference at the Secretariat on Monday (24 November) marking National Livestock Week.

On lowering feed prices, she said 70 per cent of farmers' costs go on animal feed, with electricity and other items on top. "We have taken an initiative to reduce the price of electricity. It has progressed a long way, and we hope we can bring it down. If costs fall, the main price will automatically fall. We are trying to reduce the price of feed."

When it was pointed out that poultry feed prices had not fallen by a single paisa despite a fall in maize prices, the adviser said people in the feed industry often set prices as they please. The government must draw up a policy on this, setting how far they can keep prices, she said. "We think this must be brought under regulation."

Claiming that the current government had taken much of the work in the sector forward, she said the next government would carry it on, and people would see results early in that government's term. None of this is work any government can do in a day, she added.

Highlighting the sector's contribution, the adviser said livestock holds a definite place in the national economy. At constant prices it contributes 1.81 per cent of GDP, its GDP growth rate is 3.19 per cent, and it accounts for 16.58 per cent of agricultural GDP. In money terms, livestock GDP stands at Tk 11,036 crore, which sustains the rural economy and contributes directly to national growth. Altogether, she said, the sector is a unique and growing force in the economy, employment and nutrition security.

She said the Department of Livestock Services mainly works to ensure a safe supply of eggs, milk and meat for the public, so the sector's main goal is the development of poultry, dairy and the various meat-producing cattle and poultry. The poultry industry has already become the country's second-largest source of employment after garments.

Private investment in the sector now exceeds about Tk 40,000 crore, Farida Akhter said. With 85,227 registered commercial poultry farms and about 1.91 lakh farms at the marginal level, a large number of entrepreneurs have emerged over the past decade. The country produces an average of about 6.68 crore eggs a day, which she said undoubtedly deserves praise.

To control the recently emerged lumpy skin disease (LSD) in cattle, about 17 lakh doses of vaccine are being given in the field, she said. As part of zoning to eradicate foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), vaccination is under way in Sirajganj, Pabna, Manikganj and Bhola. About 6 crore doses of vaccine against PPR, a deadly contagious disease of goats, have recently been administered in the field.

Saudi Arabia is a big market for meat exports, she said, but it does not take meat if LSD is present. "To increase meat exports, we want to strengthen our vaccination programme further."

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