Walker, David and Greeley, M. (1991) Cured fish in Bangladesh. Report on a visit to Bangladesh, November 1990, on behalf of ODA Post-Harvest Fisheries Project, Bay of Bengal Programme, Madras, India. Technical Report. Natural Resources Institute, Chatham, UK.

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Abstract

This report is based on a three week visit to Bangladesh in November 1990 by David Walker (Fish Processing and Infestation Technologist) and Martin Greeley (Marketing Economist) to examine the incidence of insect infestation in cured fish and report on both the technical and economic features of current insect control methods including the potential for improved post-harvest practices. The assignment was made on behalf of ODA for the Bay of Bengal Programme (BOBP) and included a debriefing visit to BOBP, Madras. In Bangladesh, the team included two local counterparts - S H Shamim, a socio-economist from a local research organisation, UBINIG, and Md Kador Ahmed an Inspector from the Chittagong Quality Control Office of the Department of Fisheries. The team made visits to cured fish production sites at Cox's Bazar and on islands in the Bay of Bengal including Sonadia, Dubla and Afatia Char. They observed production of cured fresh water fish in villages in Sunamganj district. They visited retail and wholesale markets in several towns including visits on three days to the major wholesale market for cured marine fish at Asadganj, Chittagong. These visits provided the opportunity to observe directly the problems of blowfly and beetle infestation and to discuss control practices with workers, managers, traders and entrepreneurs within the cured fish industry. In addition to the Ministry of Fisheries the team also visited a number of public sector agencies involved, inter alia, in research on or regulation of the Bangladesh fisheries. In practice there has been very little research or regulation of the cured fish industry. Indeed, there is not a comprehensive descriptive account of the location, organization and scale of cured fish production in Bangladesh. This is the justification for this report to include a fairly basic description of cured fish production in Bangladesh prior to discussion of insect infestation problems and controls. Many gaps remain in this description because of the lack of data on most aspects of the industry including the output levels for each product type; exported jewfish excepted.

Beyond this general appreciation of the cured fish industry, the main focus of our visits and of this report is on control of insects and of possible project opportunities in this area. Our findings are that insect loss control practices being employed seem relatively effective and are economically beneficial given the sensitivity of price to quality. However, in some cases e.g. the non-approved use of DDT - current practice is potentially hazardous to the health of consumers with high measured residue levels in samples of cured fish purchased in the wholesale and retail market. There is very widespread use of dichlorvos, an insecticide similarly not approved for use on fish but there is some doubt whether a health hazard exists. Research on the potential hazards constitute the main recommendations of this mission and specific proposals have been incorporated in this report. Otherwise, no specific interventions are proposed. The socio-economic discussion highlights the difficulties of targeting project interventions to the benefit of the poor. Given the structure of economic interests in the cured fish industry, long-term programmes of human resource development and local institutional strengthening are necessary prerequisites for effective poverty alleviation programmes.

Item Type:	Monograph (Technical Report)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	cured fish, fish, Bangladesh, post-harvest, fisheries, Bay of Bengal, Madras, India, insect, infestation, pest control, blowfly, beetle, postharvest losses
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Engineering & Science Faculty of Engineering & Science > Natural Resources Institute Faculty of Engineering & Science > Natural Resources Institute > Food & Markets Department
Related URLs:	Publisher
Last Modified:	28 Nov 2019 13:10
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/13765

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