The potential of the country's fruit processing industry cannot be fully used because of a lack of effective coordination between research institutes, the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), the Department of Agricultural Marketing and entrepreneurs, said Dr Md Golam Ferdous Chowdhury, chief scientific officer of the Post-Harvest Technology Division of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI).

He said this at a round table titled "Fruit Processing: Problems and Prospects" at the Jago News office in Badda, Dhaka, on the morning of Saturday 27 June.

Dr Golam Ferdous said researchers' job is to develop technology, the DAE's responsibility is to take that technology to the field, and the Department of Agricultural Marketing's job is to create markets. But because of the lack of coordination among these institutions, the technology developed does not properly reach farmers and entrepreneurs.

Although there are various projects to increase fruit production, the DAE's work on fruit processing is still very limited, he said. As a result, many technologies developed through research cannot be used commercially.

BARI has already developed more than 150 fruit processing technologies, including dried mango, mango leather and various jackfruit-based food products, he said. But even when entrepreneurs use these technologies, they often do not acknowledge the research institute's contribution, which discourages future research.

He named market creation and market exploration as the two big challenges for the fruit processing industry. There is not enough research on which products are in demand in which countries and what kinds of products can be exported, so exports still depend on personal contacts. No integrated research has been done on the whole supply chain for fruit exports from Bangladesh, he said. Without detailed information on how long it takes a fruit to travel from a farmer's orchard to a foreign supermarket, where its quality deteriorates, or how foreign consumers react, exports are not making the expected progress.

Important infrastructure such as vapour heat treatment (VHT), quarantine laboratories and quality control should be set up near production areas, he said. At present these services are far away, raising both time and cost for exporters. Since fruit is highly perishable, such delays are a major barrier to exports.

There is scope to export fruit by sea as well as by air, he said. Research shows that with proper packaging and a temperature of 10 to 12 degrees Celsius, mangoes can be stored for five to six weeks, which would open the way to cheaper exports by sea.

Calling for specialised "agro processing zones" to develop agro-based industry, Dr Golam Ferdous said at least four to eight such zones should be set up in the north, south, east and west of the country, each with quality testing laboratories, pack houses, cold storage, warehouses, packaging and all export facilities in one place.

He also believes separate boards are needed for major fruits such as mango, jackfruit and pineapple. If these boards had expert teams of researchers, entrepreneurs, marketing specialists and government officials, it would be easier to make integrated plans from production to processing, marketing and export.

If the government gives immediate cash incentives or subsidies for processing the fruits that are overproduced and wasted in season, big investment will come into the industry in a very short time and a large amount of value addition will be possible, he said.

BARI is also providing technical support to various entrepreneur development programmes, he said. He hoped that if a strong partnership develops between research institutes, government agencies and private entrepreneurs, the country's fruit processing industry will see significant change within the next five to six years.

The round table was moderated by Jago News editor K M Ziaul Haque. Taking part were Dr Jahangir Alam Khan, former vice-chancellor of the University of Global Village, researcher and agricultural economist; Dr Md Mehedi Masud, former project director of the Year-round Fruit Production Project and fruit expert; Mohammad Arifur Rahman, director of the DAE's exportable mango production project; Enamul Haque, deputy director (food and agriculture) of BSTI; Ilias Mridha, managing director of PRAN Group; Md Abul Hashem, managing director of Hashem Foods Limited; Md Iktadul Haque, former general secretary of the Bangladesh Agro-Processors' Association (BAPA); S M Nazer Hossain, vice-president of CAB; Md Mahatab Ali, executive director of Kaju and Coffee Agro; Chapainawabganj agri-entrepreneur Ismail Khan Shamim; and Naogaon agri-entrepreneur Sohel Rana.

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