Brief report of the workshop presented by Kevin Wrathall, ITC Specialist in agro-processed foods held on 14 March 2007
There are tremendous opportunities for horticulture and associated Agro-processed food products from Bangladesh, both for internal consumption and export markets.
More than 130 stakeholders started the design of strategies and implementation plans for the development of both sectors at a series of workshops hosted by the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) and the International Trade Centre, Geneva. ITC’s work is designed to support export diversification and improvement of quality in the horticulture and processed foods value chains. The comprehensive programme collects inputs from previous and existing projects, supports stakeholders to develop strategies and implementation plans and provides for implementation of the strategies in trade-related areas of quality, packaging and supply chain management.
“Previous studies and reports on Bangladesh’s horticulture sector provide a singularly negative picture of the industries prospects”, said Alain Higginson, ITC specialist on fresh produce and author of a report on market opportunities for the horticulture sector of Bangladesh. “We need to turn these negative impressions into positive energy to bring to market Bangladesh’s many excellent crops. In particular, stakeholders should align their efforts to reduce the extensive post harvest, contamination, damage and losses that plague the industry. If current levels of losses were reduced by half this would increase farm and rural community incomes, increase export volumes and reduce food market prices substantially for consumers.”
Kevin Wrathall, ITC specialist in agro-processed foods stated that: “standards demanded by consumers in industrialised countries are becoming ubiquitous in all markets. During visits to facilities around Bangladesh ordinary people have voiced their concern over the quality of produce and food safety.”
The Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute took an initiative to start to train farmers in better techniques several years ago and this excellent programme is now paying dividends. However, the next problem to address is now in the supply chain from farm to market, where up to 60% losses have been reported. Several donor agencies are working to address these issues, but more efforts are needed because as the problem is large and complex. Sector Strategy work is designed to bring together all parties including existing donor agencies (such as World Bank, JICA, JETRO, Katalyst, DFID, CARE, and the work of NGO’s to provide a forum for a coordinated approach to improving the situation.
The presence of the honourable Senior Advisers for the Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Agriculture and the Permanent Secretaries reinforced the importance of this message and the efforts that responsible Ministries are taking to address supply side issues.
Stakeholders from all stages of the sectors, including representatives from six provinces, sector associations, donor agencies, NGO’s and sector business, packaging and quality support services, such as SGS and BSTI who are active in the sector, were brought together to follow a processed devised by ITC. At the end of the Workshop they presented to a panel of high-level government and donor representatives their market objectives, main challenges and a prioritised list of activities that should lead to the growth of the sector and reduce poverty in farming communities.
A second public workshop on the subject will follow in May. This workshop will be followed by similar workshops in 2007 in 3 other sectors identified by EPB: Herbs and herbal medicines, light engineering and ICT enabled services.
