The principal destination of black tiger shrimp is the European market, where the Netherlands tops the list both in terms of value (US$ 89.82 million in 2017-18) and volume.
BSFF is a leading organisation in Bangladesh which has been working to promote black tiger shrimp in Bangladesh while Hendrix Genetics is an international research enterprise which has offices and establishments almost across the globe.
Bangladesh Ambassador to the Netherlands Sheikh Mohammed Belal thanked the Dutch organisations and academics for their eagerness to work with Bangladesh and hoped that with the application of Dutch philosophy – doing more with less –Bangladesh would be able to bring a revolutionary change in its shrimp sector in terms of quality, quantity and sustainability.
Bangladesh's famous brand black tiger shrimp is highly sought after item in the European chain stores and restaurants where they call it 'Free Range Chicken' from the ponds of Bangladesh given its near organic process of production in Bangladesh, said the Bangladesh Embassy in The Hague on Friday.
Meanwhile, the Embassy of Bangladesh in The Hague organised a seminar on ‘Shrimp Technology: How Bangladesh can be benefitted through Cutting-edge Dutch Technology’ on Wednesday.
More than 40 participants from different academic and research institutes, marketing agencies from the Netherlands as well as a high level visiting delegation from Bangladesh, led by Raisul Alam Mondal, Secretary, Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock of Bangladesh, and comprising representatives from the government and business organisation were present.
The objective of the seminar was to promote the shrimp sector of Bangladesh through adopting sustainable aquaculture practices as well as marketing of Bangladeshi shrimp products in the Dutch markets.
Director General, Department of Fisheries of Bangladesh, Abu Sayed Md Rashedul Haque, presented a presentation on “Black Tiger Shrimp of Bangladesh.”
Dutch experts - Roel Bosma from Wageningen University and Research, Marcel Kloesmeijer from Octofrost, Arjen Roem from Skretting and Robbert Blonk from Hendrix Genetics BV - presented their presentations on the potential of mangrove integrated shrimp farming systems, high-tech shrimp cooking and freezing technology, latest developments in shrimp feed nutrition and iv feed management and latest development of shrimp genetics.
The 25-member Bangladesh delegation is paying a six-day visit to the Netherlands to get firsthand technological knowledge for further development of shrimp and aquaculture sector of Bangladesh.
The main purpose of this visit is to explore market as well as knowledge driven avenues for sustainable production of Bangladesh's world renowned black tiger shrimp.
The Dutch organisations - Solidaridad Network Asia, Seafood Trade Intelligence Portal and The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) jointly organised the visit, where manufacturers/exporters from Bangladesh had the opportunity to interact with the leading importers of shrimp in the EU.
About 60 leading importers from the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany were engaged in a daylong brainstorming session in Utrecht, The Hague and Amsterdam to facilitate expansion of Bangladesh's famous black tiger shrimp in the EU market.
Importers in the Europe are almost unanimous that black shrimp tiger is their number one choice due to almost organic nature of production.
They have suggested that Bangladesh should invest more for research and development of black tiger shrimp through collaboration with the leading EU research institutes and universities.
Secretary Mondal thanked all the distinguished presence, especially Hendrix Genetics for their interests towards working with Bangladesh.
He urged the Dutch companies to take the advantages of Blue Economy of Bangladesh as it is still not explored to the fullest.