Dairy farming in Bangladesh will get a boost once a dairy development board comes into being, hoped farmers yesterday regarding a bill being recently placed in parliament. 

The Bangladesh Dairy Development Board Bill 2023 aims to increase production of milk and milk products and ensure quality production and marketing.

The fisheries and livestock ministry placed the bill last week seeking to facilitate establishment of commercial farms and to take steps to ensure production of safe milk and dairy products.

Once the law comes about, the government is expected to form a 19-member panel for the board with a minister as its chairman.

The dairy sector flourished in India, Pakistan and various advanced economies following recommendations of their boards. "We, farmers, will be able to contribute more," said Mohammad Imran Hossain, president of Bangladesh Dairy Farmers Association (BDFA).

"It is very important for dairy farming to flourish in Bangladesh," said Shah Emran, general secretary of the BDFA, a platform of 18,000 farmers.

He cited the examples of countries that excelled in milk and beef production by setting up a separate board for dairy development. "We have been demanding the establishment of a board for a long time," he said.

In Bangladesh, there are about 2.34 crore cattle, according to Emran.

Bangladesh is lagging behind when it comes to dairy, said FH Ansarey, president of the agribusiness division of ACI Ltd.

"The good news is that there is a trend of people taking up farming. In this situation, a dairy board will be able to provide necessary support to growers at every stage and work to promote production of diversified milk products," he said.

Bangladesh has a large number of cattle but milk yield per cow is low, said Kamruzzaman Kamal, director for marketing at Pran-RFL Group, which processes milk.

Bangladesh has the opportunity to develop its dairy sector, he said.

"Development of poultry and fisheries are two big examples. These sectors have flourished because of policy support. We can reduce our imports by nurturing the growth of the local dairy industry," he said.