PINAKI ROY and SUKANTA HALDER

Bangladesh is now in a comfortable position in fish and meat production, bringing comfort to the government in ensuring food security.

For instance, the country has moved up from third to second place globally in freshwater fish production, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2024 report.

Bangladesh produced 1.32 million tonnes (13.22 lakh tonnes) of freshwater fish, accounting for 11.7 percent of global production, it said.

The growth came particularly in the last two years thanks to the expanded production of species such as hilsa, pangas, boal and aair.

Bangladesh also leads 11 countries in hilsa production, thanks to government measures.

In the 2002-03 season, hilsa production slumped to 1.99 lakh tonnes, creating a nationwide crisis of the fish. This prompted the government to take on a project to conserve jatka fish in 2004.

In the 2022-23 season, hilsa production reached 5.71 lakh metric tonnes, which is about 12 percent of Bangladesh’s total fish production.

Globally, the country ranks 8th in Crustacean (crab and shrimp) production, 14th in coastal and marine fish production and fourth in Tilapia production, according to FAO data.

The government aims to produce 65 lakh tonnes of fish by 2030 and 85 lakh tonnes by 2041.

In the 2023-24 season, fish production was 50.2 lakh tonnes.

The daily average fish intake per capita has increased to 67.8 gm, exceeding the daily per capita demand of 60 gm.

Meanwhile, livestock production has also risen by 24 percent in the last decade to 4.53 crore animals, as per data from the Department of Livestock Services.

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