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Monday, April 5, 2010
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Fish Foundation teams up with Maryland University

Dr Cheng-I Wei, dean for the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources of University of Maryland, USA, and Syed Mahmudul Huq, chairman of Bangladesh Shrimp and Fish Foundation, exchange documents after signing a cooperation agreement in Washington DC recently. The university and the foundation will work together for the development of quality shrimps production in Bangladesh. Photo: BSS

The University of Maryland, USA, and Bangladesh Shrimp and Fish Foundation (BSFF) have signed a cooperation agreement for the development of production and import of quality shrimps.

CD Mote Jr, president of the university, and Syed Mahmudul Huq, chairman of BSFF, signed the agreement during a visit by a Bangladesh delegation to the USA last week.

"It's a tripartite cooperation agreement between the government, private entrepreneurs and the academics to enhance both the quality and the quantity of country's shrimp productions," Huq told the news agency yesterday on his return from the US.

The present agreement would provide for, among others, joint research and training activities, exchange of scholars and experts for seminars, conferences and research activities, added Huq.

Dr Cheng-I Wei, dean for the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources of the university, acknowledged the agreement.

Three aspects such as food safety, environmental sustainability and social responsibility, which are the pressing demands from shrimp importers, would be mitigated under the deal.

"If we can maintain its food quality, no other country could compete with us in this vitally important export trades," he said.

Under the agreement, Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (JIFSAN), a joint initiative of US Food and Drug Administration and University of Maryland and BSFF have already initiated a training of trainers program for the implementation of "Good Aquaculture Practices" throughout Bangladesh.

This training would ensure food safety, environmental sustainability and social responsibility both in terms of human and labour rights.

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 in the region with a goal to build capacity of both foreign regulators and manufacturers in the use of international best practices in food safety management to better assure the safety of the food supply chain in the region.

In Bangladesh, fisheries constitute the second most important source of foreign exchange where shrimp alone earned $ 445.41million in fiscal 2007-2008, making a 3.15 percent contribution to national exports and over 45 percent contribution to total export from all agro-based primary commodities.

By 2015, shrimp and prawn are expected to make up to 164,000 tonnes against the estimated current production of 90,000 tonnes, where the country's fisheries road map projects export earnings of $1.1 billion from shrimp and prawn and $0.1 billion from fish.

The US is the single largest importer of shrimp from Bangladesh.

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