The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, Bagerhat

A fact-finding European Union delegation visited a frozen shrimp export factory and a demonstration farm run by the Fisheries Department in the coastal district on Sunday to examine the quality of exportable shrimps.

The two members of the team - MC Mac E Boy and Inspector Raj Patal - from the EU Food and Veterinary Mission visited the Rupsa Fish and Allied Processing Centre at Kathaltola in Fakirhat upazila and the demonstration farm at Radhaballab in Sadar upazila. They took a close look at the process of maintaining quality of the exportable food item, of which European Union countries are the main importers.

Local Fisheries Department officials said shrimp is cultivated in 1.44 lakh hectares across the country, some 66,000 hectares in Bagerhat alone.

The country produces 65,000 tons of shrimp annually, and nearly half the quantity--27,886 tons-is produced in this southwestern district along the coast of the Bay of Bengal.

There are 46 modern shrimp-processing factories in Bagerhat, Khulna and Satkhira districts.

"That's why a big portion of the shrimps is exported from the Khulna region every year," said one source.

Bangladesh Frozen Foods Exports Association said the country earned Tk 3,500 crore by exporting quality shrimps in the 2006-07 fiscal year.

The inspection team sent by the EU shrimp-importing countries would examine each and every activity, from shrimp production to its processing, and future of shrimp export from the country will largely depend on their reports, the sources said.