April 6, 2010

Bangladesh Shrimp and Fish Foundation (BSFF) and the University of Maryland have signed an Agreement of Cooperation to promote production and import of quality shrimps, during a recent visit of BSFF delegate, Syed Mahmudul Huq in the US.

The agreement is a tripartite cooperation between the government, private entrepreneurs and the academics to enhance both the quality and the quantity of Bangladeshi shrimp productions.

Under the agreement, Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (JIFSAN), a joint initiative of US's FDA, University of Maryland, and BSFF have initiated a training programme for eventual implementation of "Good Aquaculture Practices" throughout Bangladesh to ensure food safety, environmental sustainability, and social responsibility in terms of human and labour rights in the country.

Besides, both JIFSAN and BSFF have reached an understanding to set up a JIFSAN-BSFF Aquaculture and Aquatic Food Safety Centre as an affiliate of Fishery Products Business Promotion Council under Public Private Partnership. This would work as a network of training institutes to promote the use of international best practices in food safety management among foreign regulators and manufacturers in the region.

In Bangladesh, fisheries constitute the second most important source of foreign revenues where shrimp alone earned US$445.41 million in 2007-08, representing 3.15% of national export and over 45% of total export from all agro-based primary commodities.

Shrimp and prawn production is expected to total 164,000 tonnes by 2015, as against the estimated current production of 90,000 tonnes. The fisheries road map projects export earning of US$1.1 billion from shrimp and prawn and US$0.1 billion from fish by 2015.

Currently, the US is the single largest importer of shrimp from Bangladesh, followed by the EU countries.