Skretting initiates livestock farming project in Bangladesh

Fish feed company Skretting, a subsidiary of Nutreco, has started a project to aid poverty in Bangladesh through the development of small-scale integrated combinations of fish farming and chicken farming.

The Empowerment of the Poor through Integrated Agriculture (EPIA) project aims to reduce poverty in the Patuakali district in the southern delta region of Bangladesh by establishing 3,000 integrated family farms.

Approximately 200 farms are already established and have started gaining an income from this integrated agriculture.

Model farms have been created in order to convince other families to join the project and to accept a small loan (micro-credit) to build the poultry barn, buy the feed and the day-old chickens and fingerlings.

Hans Vink, general manager of Skretting North West Europe, is part of the Skretting/Nutreco team that will follow up the project. His role is to provide competence and guidance in the field of fish farming, while his colleagues from Nutreco will provide equivalent competence in the field of agriculture.

Vink believes the scope for improvement through EPIA is tremendous, noting that with rather simple and cheap measures, combined with training, improved farm management, guidance and the supply of some micro-credits will make a huge difference to the poor and marginalised households in this rural Patuakali population.