Livestock Service Week begins

Fisheries and Livestock Minister S M Rezaul Karim said the government will set up mobile sales centres aiming to keep the prices of fish, meat, milk and egg stable during the upcoming holy month of Ramadan.

“If the market management and monitoring get integrated, the prices of these protein sources will come down a lot," he said while inaugurating the Livestock Service Week and the two-day Exhibition 2023 at the ground near Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) in the capital's Sher-e-Bangla Nagar on Saturday.

The Directorate of Livestock has arranged the exhibition in cooperation with Bangladesh Dairy Farmers Association (BDFA) and Bangladesh Poultry Industries Central Council (BPICC).

In addition to the exhibition, on the occasion of Livestock Service Week, the initiative of the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock and Directorate of Livestock under the title 'Smart Livestock, Smart Bangladesh' will be held across the country including Dhaka.

According to BDFA, people can visit the exhibition from 9am to 9pm every day free of charge. Various types of animals, including cow, buffalo, goat, sheep, dumba, horse, pigeon, rabbit, dog, cat and poultry birds, will be displayed in the exhibition.

Like last year, there will be a ramp show of the country's most beautiful and large-sized cow-buffalo, goat-sheep for the visitors. Apart from this, the exhibition will have a variety of delicious meat and dairy products and food.

Some 250 large farmers of cows, goats, buffaloes, poultry and pets from all over the country are taking part in the exhibition. The farmers have displayed most attractive and large-sized bulls at 300 stalls.

The minister also said they will seek help from the farmers to set up mobile sales centres during Ramadan. “Hopefully, the prices of fish, meat, milk and eggs will not increase in any way rather we are trying to keep the prices at tolerant level during Ramadan.”

Citing the reason for the increase in meat price, the minister said the Russia-Ukraine war has pushed up the cost of food production.

"We have fixed the prices at reasonable level at the mobile sales centre that we have already set up. I request all, including the poultry association, to fix the prices reasonably so that everyone can buy these foods at cheap rates,” he added.

Director General of Livestock Emdadul Haque Talukder presided over the event. Fisheries and Livestock Secretary Nahid Rashid and Additional Secretary Md. Abdul Qayyum, among others, were present on this occasion.

The closing and prize distribution ceremony will be held on Monday at the ground while the closing ceremony on Livestock Service Week will be held on March 1 at Krishibid Institution Bangladesh (KIB) auditorium.