Agricultural export potential high, but meeting global standards a challenge

A decade ago, the European Union (EU) imposed a ban on Bangladeshi betel leaf exports due to the presence of salmonella bacteria on the product. 

While salmonella-free betel leaf production has helped resume exports, it took 10 whole years to do so for a small product in the export basket. The Bangladesh Fruits, Vegetables and Allied Products Exporters' Association (BFVAPEA) said that after the ban in February 2014, the first export to the EU resumed in May 2021. 

According to BFVAPEA, 49% of agricultural exports currently go to the Middle East, 32% to Europe, 15% to Asia and 4% to other countries including Canada.

However, in the fiscal year 2013-14, 54.8% of exports went to Europe and 30.7% to the Middle East.

In a decade, agricultural exports have declined from $225.85 million to $74.93 million. In terms of quantity, it has come down from 1.28 lakh tonnes to 55,000 tonnes.

Considering the demand from the international market though, Bangladesh has the opportunity to export more than 19 lakh tonnes of agricultural products by air and sea by 2030.

But agricultural exporters believe that Bangladesh will have to work a lot to achieve this.

Exporters said that so far, the export market of this sector has been developed targeting expatriates. Due to the failure to maintain standards, Bangladesh is not able to take the opportunity to export products even though there are opportunities to sell to supermarkets.

For this, it is very important to follow Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) and ensuring traceability of products, make big investments in setting up packing houses, certifications according to the conditions set by the importing countries, export by sea, increase the shelf life of products, maintain cold chain in transportation and export processing areas, and develop laboratory capacity.

BFVAPEA Advisor Md Monjurul Islam told TBS, "It took us 10 years to overcome the ban and export betel leaf to the UK, but we and our farmers have learned how to maintain GAP for agricultural products. If we can spread this experience to the production of all other agricultural products across the country, we will be able to create a good position in the export market."

He said that this requires cooperation between the government and the private sector.

Bangladesh is unable to export any agricultural products by sea and is unable to export to many countries despite their interest because it cannot increase the shelf life of its products and make them bacteria-free through various treatments.

While India can export using seaports, Bangladesh's only option for agricultural export is by air. However, the cost of air travel is also higher than that of the neighbouring country.

In addition, Bangladesh is unable to utilise the export opportunity due to the lack of a cold storage at the airport, complications with scanners, charging for scanning of goods in two stages, deterioration of the quality of goods due to delayed shipments, and the slow pace of export proceeds coming to the country.

The Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war have disrupted global supply chains, hampering exports of not only agricultural products but also processed agricultural products.

As a result, while the total exports of agricultural and processed agricultural products in FY22 were $1,161 million, it has come down to $829.21 million in FY23.

BFVAPEA Secretary General and exporter Md Monsur told TBS, "It takes four days to send goods from Mumbai, India to Dubai by sea. It takes us 30 days. We cannot use the sea route due to the lack of post-harvest management. On the other hand, we are lagging in the market and our competitiveness is decreasing due to our backwardness in product production and post-production management through GAP implementation.

"BFVAPEA has been assisting farmers in producing mango, bottle gourd, papaya, beans, banana, brinjal, cabbage and other products by implementing GAP on a small scale in some areas including Jashore, Satkhira, Jhenaidah, Meherpur since April 2023 with the assistance of USAID. Some of the products are also being exported from there," he added.

Meanwhile, the Department of Agricultural Extension is implementing the Program on Agricultural and Rural Transformation for Nutrition, Entrepreneurship, and Resilience in Bangladesh (PARTNER) Project for Tk6,910 crore.

The project is about eight months old, but its implementation progress is hovering around 1%. However, the project aims to produce agricultural products by implementing GAP on 3 lakh hectares of land within five years.

At the same time, cooling room facilities are being kept for perishable product exporters at the third terminal of the airport. This is known to be helpful for exporters to maintain the quality of their products.

In addition, the Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA) will set up an e-radiation centre in Gazipur under the project. The institute will use eBeam/X-ray technology to increase the shelf life of these perishable agricultural products and make them suitable for export.

BINA Director General Dr Mirza Mofazzal Islam told TBS that increasing the shelf life will help increase exports.

Researchers said that every year 20-25% of onions, 30-35% of mangoes, 25-30% of bananas, papaya, guava and litchi, 8-9% of rice, 6-7% of pulses, about 20% of potatoes and 5-7% of ginger are lost post-harvest. Improved post-harvest management is needed to reduce this, like in developed countries.

However, the work of modernising the Central Packing House in Shyampur and buying laboratory equipment for modern packaging and various types of treatment of agricultural products according to the demand of the exporting country is underway.

These are known to play a role in increasing overall exports. However, while India has hundreds of such packing houses, Bangladesh is going for the modernisation of one packing house year after year.

BFVAPEA data said that agricultural products generally include various types of vegetables, fruits and betel leaves.

More than 54 types of vegetables are exported, including bitter gourd, brinjal, bottle gourd, okra, French bean, green chilli, green papaya, green banana, radish, sweet potato and cauliflower.

Among fruits, 34 are exported including jackfruit, pineapple, litchi, mango, star fruit, lemon (zara lemon, ada lemon, elachi lemon, satkara etc.), guava, and dragon fruit.

Exporters said that the export destinations are the UK, Italy, Germany, France, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, Ireland and Russia in Europe.

Agricultural products are being exported to countries like KSA, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain in the Middle East. In addition, a part of agricultural exports is going to Canada, Malaysia, Singapore and Sri Lanka.