The closing panel featured members from numerous organizations. From left to right: Shyamal Kanti Ghosh, advisor to the Bangladesh Poultry Industry Central Council (BPICC); Dr. Rafiq Islam, consultant on the Bangladeshi Feed Act; Mosiur Rahman, president of the Feed Industries Association of Bangladesh (FAIB); Pam Helmsing, acting regional lead for ASC, USSEC; Lee Gross, senior international program manager, Office of Capacity Building and Development, USDA; and Mark Newman, aquaculture technical consultant. Photo credit: Pam Helmsing/USSEC

The Bangladesh animal feed and aquaculture industries met in Dhaka on May 6 to discuss the importance of the Feed Act and make recommendations on future modifications. The conference was organized by the U.S. Soybean Export Council’s (USSEC) Masum Reja, with funding from the American Soybean Association’s World Initiative in Soy and Human Health (ASA/WISHH) program through a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Office of Capacity Building and Development.

The Dhaka seminar was the highlight of 10 months of activities to help Bangladesh aquaculture feed mills to better understand the Feed Act, which is designed to improve feed quality by testing ingredients, production procedures and storage practices. Featured speakers included Pam Helmsing, USSEC acting Asia subcontinent regional lead, who spoke on USSEC’s aquaculture activities; Rafiqul Islam, a retired Department of Fisheries official on the Feed Act; and Mark Newman, an aquaculture consultant who covered using soybean meal in feed rations.

The first activity took place last fall, and was a comprehensive assessment of the Feed Act and measured how familiar feed mills were with the Feed Act. Using the assessment’s findings, the second undertaking was planned, where two technical consultants travelled to Bangladesh to meet with aquaculture feed mills and aquaculture producers on feed quality and usage. They also spoke at village-level seminars on the Feed Act.

During all these activities, ASA/WISHH coordinated with USSEC’s Asia Subcontinent management team. Collaborations such as these increase the resources devoted to supporting a strong local aquaculture industry, which consumes significant quantities of U.S. soy.