Dutch-Bangladesh consortium to collaborate with Fisheries Dept for boosting aquaculture value chain
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed to create an enabling environment for capacity building technology transfer, joint investments, and business activities in Bangladesh’s aquaculture.
The MoU was signed between the Department of Fisheries (DoF) under the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, and a Dutch-Bangladeshi consortium, jointly coordinated by Netherlands-based Larive International and LightCastle Partners, a Bangladeshi management consulting firm.
Kh. Mahbubul Haque, Director General of DoF, and Matthias J. Brienen, Director of Larive International, signed the MoU at the conference room of DoF on behalf of their respective sides on Sunday afternoon. The cooperation between the parties will support the implementation of the four-year-long FoodTechBangladesh project that aims to improve productivity of shrimp and fish hatcheries and farmers in the country through technology and knowledge transfer, capacity building, and demonstration of advanced hatching and farming practices. Under the MoU, 75 DoF officials including field-level extension officers will receive capacity development training on advanced aquaculture technologies and farming methods.
Supported by the Netherlands Embassy in Bangladesh, three Centres of Excellence (demonstration farms) will be established in Sylhet, Khulna, and Cox’s Bazar under the Food Tech Bangladesh project.
Those centres will focus on disseminating technologies and best practices to farmers for increasing shrimp and fish production in the country while ensuring international food safety standards. Addressing at the ceremony, Kh. Mahbubul Haque, Director General of DoF, said, “Through this collaboration we share the common goal of strengthening the technical capacity of our extension personnel and disseminating effective technologies and sustainable farming practices to our farmers”. Emphasizing the potential impact of the Dutch-Bangladeshi partnership on sustainable aquaculture growth, Matthias Brienen, Director of Larive International, said, “There is an opportunity to support the fish and shrimp hatchery operators and farmers in Bangladesh by transferring Dutch expertise and farming technologies.
We look forward to working closely with DoF to develop capacity and enhance performance across the aquaculture value chain in Bangladesh”.
The signing ceremony was attended by Zahedul Amin, Director, LightCastle, and other senior officials from DoF and representatives from Larive, LightCastle, and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Bangladesh.
FoodTechBangladesh project is conceptualized and led by Netherlands-based Larive International in close collaboration with its Bangladesh-based affiliate LightCastle Partners and the Netherlands Embassy in Dhaka.
