Inauguration Workshop of SPF Nursery and Contract Farming of Bagda Prawn Farmers in Kaliganj, Satkhira Region

Inaugural workshop on Super Specific Pathogen Free (SPF) Black Tiger Prawn (BTS) Nursery and Contract Farming held at Kaliganj. (March 11) This workshop of Sustainable Coastal and Marine Fisheries Project organized by ACI Agrolink was held throughout the day at the Upazila Parishad Auditorium at 10 o’clock on Monday.

District Fisheries Officer Anisur Rahman spoke as the chief guest on the occasion under the chairmanship of Upazila Nirbahi Officer Dipankar Das. Upazila Parishad Chairman Saeed Mehdi, Khulna Division Sustainable Coastal and Marine Fisheries Project (SCMFP) Deputy Director Saroj Kumar Mistry, Upazila Senior Fisheries Officer Nazmul Huda spoke as special guests. Shoaib Mahmood, General Manager, ACI Agrolink, and Hasibul Mannan, Program Head, ACI Agribusiness, spoke on behalf of ACI’s senior management on ACI and SPF-BTS Nursery and Contract Farming.

Satkhira, a district in southwestern Bangladesh, where shrimp plays an important role in the livelihood of rural residents. ACI Agrolink has set up a Super SPF (Specific Pathogen Free) PL (Post Larva) Nursery in Kaliganj Upazila of this district. Where 10 – 12 days of SPF foals will be actively nursed for 5 – 8 days. SPF spray is a spray that is free of certain viruses.

From this nursery, the shrimp farmers will get Super SPF fry which will help in reducing shrimp diseases, reduce shrimp mortality and ensure better shrimp productivity growth. As a result, farmer productivity will increase and ACI Agrolink will get additional raw material supply as a shrimp processing industry, resulting in higher export earnings. And the speakers expressed optimism that it will play an important role in the economic development of Bangladesh by earning this foreign currency.

Deputy Director of Sustainable Coastal and Marine Fisheries Project (SCMFP), Khulna Division, Saroj Kumar Mistry, who was present at the workshop, on behalf of the Department of Fisheries, heartily applauded and thanked ACI for its initiative in the shrimp sector, and also offered to give ACI the trust of the farmers by supplying quality SPF fry. Places are created and act as role models that will inspire others to come forward in the shrimp sector.

He further said to the shrimp farmers that although the south-western region of Bangladesh is very suitable for shrimp farming, we are lagging far behind. The main reason for this is the traditional method of shrimp farming. In that case, he urged the farmers to cultivate in modern ways. There are four main points that farmers must adhere to 1) virus free sowing (SPF sowing) 2) increasing enclosure depth 3) providing good feed and 4) ensuring biosecurity.

It is to be noted that in this workshop, Deputy General Manager of ACI Agribusiness, Engineer Raju Ahmed, PEENG, Operation Manager of ACI Agrolink Mohammad Alamgir Hossain, Assistant Manager of Agribusiness, Compliance and Certification Syeda Sonia Rahman, Area Sales Executive of ACI Animal Health Suman Kumar Dey, Hundreds of shrimp farmers, agents and traders of Kaliganj Upazila along with Assistant Project Manager of SPF-BTS Nursery and Contract Farming Project Arifa Parveen Sohani were present.