BBS will survey how many cows and goats eat rice and wheat!
September 25, 20242 Mins Read

Jumbangla Desk: The government agencies give some accounts of the amount of rice, wheat, corn and potatoes produced in the country. But the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) will survey how much these crops are spent on domesticated animals, how much they consume. The cost of this fully government funded project is Rs. 19 crores. Meanwhile, the Project Evaluation Committee (PEC) meeting of the project has been held in the Planning Commission.

Livestock

The BBS project will survey how much rice and wheat are consumed by cows and goats. The main objective of the BBS project is to collect, process and publish data on non-human consumption of rice, wheat, maize and potato crops and to prepare and publish data on crop losses and food waste. to do

In the proposal for taking up the project, it is said that, apart from preventing hunger and ensuring nutrition, the use of food grains has increased tremendously. Rice, wheat and maize are used for non-human consumption of crops i.e. fish and livestock due to availability and easy access. But no survey has been conducted so far to collect data on non-human consumption of food grains.

Apart from this, no survey was conducted to collect data on food wastage, waste, transport and marketing losses and processing. It is essential to have accurate data for preparing national accounts and preparing national plans on demand, supply, availability, utilization etc. of food grains. In that perspective, this survey project has been undertaken to know the information related to non-human consumption of crops and food grains, food wastage, waste.

According to the information of the Department of Livestock, the production of cows, buffaloes, goats and sheep has increased to 575.570 million at the end of the financial year 2023-24.

Production of duck and chicken increased to 396 crores. These livestock accounts for 16.33 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). The total market value of livestock is more than 82 thousand crore rupees.
Farmers said that the biggest challenge in animal husbandry is the high cost of feed. A major part of beef feed materials is import dependent.

Most needed are wheat and soybeans, both of which have to be imported. Due to the Russia-Ukraine war, the price of food in the international market increased last year, but now it has come down to a much more bearable level. However, the price of beef in the country continues to rise due to devaluation of rupee against dollar and high profit motive of importers.

In this regard, Anwar Parvez, Professor of Agronomy Department of Bangladesh Agricultural University, said, 'It would be good if the wastage of our crops can be identified and prevented in such a survey. Even though wastage is not much in Bangladesh, it can still be considered a priority. We changed our diet by eating less rice and feeding it to animals. We can go more to that kind of source.' Source: Voice of Time