Bangladesh to participate in Texworld

http://www.newagebd.com/2010/mar/24/busi.html#5

Bangladesh to participate in Texworld
United News of Bangladesh . Dhaka

Bangladesh will participate in the upcoming Texworld USA, the biggest readymade garment fair in the United States, to be held on July 13-15 at Javits Convention Centre in New York.

The world-reputed buyers of the USA, Canada, Europe and African countries will attend the showcase, said a press release.

Texworld USA is the largest sourcing event in North America for apparel fabric buyers, product development specialists, designers, merchandisers and overseas sourcing professionals.

Farm mechanisation subsidies

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Farm mechanisation subsidies

The government, reportedly, has decided to pay from its coffer one-fourth of the value of some selected farm machinery and tools, including tractors, power tillers, combined harvester, thrasher and sprayer, to be purchased by the farmers. However, such payments would be made only to the farmers who would put their names onto an official list. The disbursement of this kind of subsidy is unlikely to take place within this fiscal since the ministry of agriculture is yet to begin its work on the preparation of the lists of farmers and select the manufacturers, importers and suppliers of certain categories of farm machinery and tools.

Yet the ministry deserves appreciation for initiating the subsidy programme that, if implemented properly, is expected to provide some relief to farmers who suffer from a severe supply shortage of draught animals during the sowing time of different crops and also from non-availability of adequate number of day-labourers during the harvesting time. In fact, country’s farming practices have gone mechanised, to a large extent, over the past decades, particularly in land tilling and irrigation activities. The dearth of draught animals has forced the farmers to take the services of tractors and power tillers for tilling their lands. The use of other agricultural implements, though not extensive yet, is expanding fast because of scarcity of farm labourers.

The farm labour situation on the ground is opposite to the prevailing notion that the country’s agriculture sector has been losing its labour absorption capacity. Barring a few places, the availability of an adequate number of farm labourers during tilling and harvesting seasons in most areas of the country has become highly uncertain. The daily wage of farm labourers has increased markedly because of the demand-supply mismatch. Daily wage earners find farming an unattractive place to work because of its seasonal nature. They prefer vocations that ensure round-the-year earning.

Actually, the situation in the agriculture sector, in terms of availability of draught animals and farm labourers, has made it a strong candidate for mechanisation. Over the last two to three decades traditional mechanised farming, in place of traditional one, has become more in practice than before. This has been helping the country boost its food output. But along with it came a disturbing development. Farm mechanisation, particularly in areas of land tilling and irrigation, has given rise to a new class of exploiters at the grassroots. Small and marginal farmers, who cannot afford to buy power tillers or irrigation pumps or deep tube-wells are the main victims.

The owners of power tillers or irrigation pumps and deep tube-wells, who are, generally, affluent farmers, impose exorbitant charges on small and marginal farmers against the use of the services of their machines.

This is an area that needs special attention of the agriculture ministry. It must keep the necessary safeguard in its subsidy scheme against the inclusion of the names of affluent rural elites, who have all the means to exploit the poor farmers, in the list of beneficiaries. Rather, small and marginal farmers should be asked to form groups before their enlistment so that the cost of machinery like tractors or power tillers or other farm implements does not pose a burden on them. However, success of the government’s farm mechanisation subsidy programme would largely depend on the sincerity and honesty of the field level agricultural officials.

The ministry concerned does need to be careful about the accountability part of its officials.

Nitol plans Nano plant in Bangladesh

http://www.newagebd.com/2010/mar/23/busi.html#3

Nitol plans Nano plant in Bangladesh
Brand new car may cost customers Tk 3 lakh
Kazi Azizul Islam

Nitol Motors, a local assembling company which sells automobiles manufactured by India’s Tata Motors, is now planning to make and market a Bangladeshi version of Nano, Tata’s much-hyped brand affordable to the lower middle class Indians.

The chairman of Nitol Motors, Abdul Matlub Ahmad, claims that the Nano cars can be made in his planned pant in Bangladesh and the customer-level price of each car will not exceed Tk 3 lakh.

If a deal is struck between Tata and Nitol, the small car manufacturing plant would be set up in Chittagong or Khulna in view of the proximity of the site to seaport, he told New Age on Monday.

The Nitol chairman is scheduled to have a ‘crucial’ meeting in this regard with the managing director of Tata Motors, PM Telang, in Dhaka on March 25.

However, the objective of Telang’s visit is to expand the company’s business in Bangladesh, especially enhancing capacity of Tata’s commercial vehicles assembling unit in Jessore and setting up a new plant in Kishoreganj for assembling Tata’s ACE series of mini trucks, said Matlub.

‘It is my dream to manufacture made-in Bangladesh cars and export them to different countries after meeting domestic demand,’ the Nitol chief said adding that he would be negotiating a deal with the Tata Motors to set up the plant. He mentioned that almost 60 per cent of Nano components would be made in the planned Bangladesh plant under the supervision of Tata Motors.

Bangladeshi customers showed interests in Nano showcased in the India Trade Fair in Dhaka in the past month. ‘But the price of each piece of imported Nano, including one hundred per cent duty, would stand at nearly Tk 6 lakh,’ Matlub pointed out.

He gave his estimate that a unit requires annual production of at least 50,000 cars for its business viability. ‘We see the prospect of selling 10,000 Nano cars a year while the rest can be exported,’ he added.

According to the businessman, northeast Indian states and West Bengal can the convenient export destinations and Nano cars can also be shipped to Europe or Africa.

Nano is a rear-engine four-passenger car which Tata launched in the Indian market in March 2009. It was a pledge by Tata group chairman Ratan N Tata to provide each of common Indians with a car at a price of Rs 100,000.

China favours seaport, Kunming-Ctg rail links

http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2010/03/23/news0848.htm

China favours seaport, Kunming-Ctg rail links
Staff Reporter

The Chinese government has given a very positive and encouraging response to Bangladesh’s proposals on building a deep seaport and the Chittagong-Kunming road and rail links through Myanmar, Foreign Minister Dipu Moni said yesterday.

“We received a very positive and encouraging response from both the central Chinese government and the provincial government of Yunan on building a deep seaport and the Chittagong-Kunming road and rail links through Myanmar,” she told a crowded press conference at the Foreign Ministry after the five-day visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to China which ended on Sunday.

The Foreign Minister said that China also decided to write off all loans and their interests given to Bangladesh till 2008. She, however, could not provide the volume of the loans and interests.

Asked whether China has showed interest to invest in building the planned deep sea port in Cox’s Bazar, she said assistance would be needed from more than one country since the project would require huge investment.

Once the deep seaport is built, not only be China, people from other countries, including Bangladesh, would get benefit out of it. The cost of Chinese products will be lesser here than previous because of closing the distance, Dipu Moni said, adding that “China is not only a source of import but a partner of our overall development,” she said.

Terming the Prime Minister’s visit to China as effective, important, historic, timely and fruitful one, she said it has opened the doors of cooperation between two friendly countries.

Dipu Moni said, during the visit, both the premiers emphasised the need for building a network between the Bangladesh and China on the basis of closer comprehensive partnership of cooperation from the strategic perspective.

Chinese investment and relocation of its labor-intensive industries in Bangladesh might help reduce the trade gap. Besides, we also have to expand its export basket, she said.

Dipu Moni said Bangladesh sought cooperation of China in purchasing arms and they gave a positive response in this regard.

Referring to the three agreements and one MoU signed during the visit, she said the visit opened up a new chapter of cooperation between the two friendly counties.

The accords are: Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement with Adequate Grant, Framework Agreement for Construction of Shahjalal Fertilizer Factory, Agreement for Construction of the 7th Bangladesh-China Friendship Bridge, and MoU on Bangladesh-China Cooperation in Oil and Gas sectors.

Replying to a question on the management of Brahmaputra river that has been originated in China, the Foreign Minister said Bangladesh wants joint management of this river, which has been appreciated by the Chinese side.

Presently, the two countries would exchange data and information about the flow of the river and at one stage we would be able to work under a joint management of the river. The matter was also discussed with India, she said.

In reply to another question, Dipu Moni said Bangladesh-India Joint Rivers Commission was an advancement towards an agreement for sharing of Teesta river waters.

“There is no reason to be frustrated. We cannot term the JRC meeting frustrating also. Much progress was gained at the meeting and more will come in future,” she said.

The Foreign Minister said the matter removing the trade gap was discussed during the official meeting when the Chinese side expressed willingness to provide duty-free access to more Bangladeshi products and increase the volume of imports from Bangladesh.

On the outcome of the technical committee meeting on maritime boundary dispute, she said both sides placed their proposals and expressed their own stand to resolve the dispute through discussion.

Draft plan aims for 8 per cent growth

http://www.theindependent-bd.com/details.php?nid=166912

Draft plan aims for 8 per cent growth
UNB, Dhaka

The draft Perspective Plan (2010-21), to achieve 8 per cent growth by 2015 will be sent to the cabinet later this month for approval.

“The draft plan has already been completed and we have also received opinions from different Ministries. It will be sent to the cabinet later this month for approval,” said Prof Shamsul Alam, a member of the General Economics Division (GED) of Planning Commission, which prepared the draft.

Talking to UNB, he said that the main focus of the perspective plan was given on human resource development and on education while priority has also been given on technical education.

Dr. Alam said this would be the country’s first long-term participatory Perspective Plan. Earlier, an initiative was taken to formulate a perspective plan (1995-2010) but the effort could not succeed.

“The 6th and 7th five-year plan will also be finalized on the basis of the proposed Perspective Plan,” he added. The GED member informed that to make the plan more participatory, some 32 meetings including 10 at the national-level and 22 at regional-level were held across the country with the participation of people from all sectors – NGO and private sector.

He said that the Perspective Plan eyes to elevate Bangladesh to a mid-income country by 2021 from the list of the Least Developed Country (LDC). “Recommendations have been made to bring down the foreign assistance to a minimum level.”

As per the draft Perspective Plan, the GDP growth was projected at 8 per cent by 2015, 9 per cent by 2017 and 10 per cent by 2021 while the per capita income to be raised to US$ 2000.

It also focuses to keep the annual inflation rate to a tolerant level -between 7 and 8 per cent – by 2021 through efficient management of both monetary and revenue policy.

The unemployment rate was projected at 16 per cent by 2015 and at 10 per cent by 2021.

According to the plan, the number of poor people in the country would stand at 2.50 crore as the government will take steps to reduce the number of underprivileged people below the poverty level at 30 per cent by 2015 and at 15 per cent by 2021.

The draft plan also gave emphasis on raising the admission rate for primary level education to 100 per cent by 2021 and also free Bangladesh from illiteracy by 2014.

The contribution for agriculture, industry and services sectors in the GDP has been fixed at 16, 30 and 54 per cent respectively by 2015, which is also expected to stand at 12, 36 and 52 per cent by 2021.

Besides, a target has been set to raise the export income to 22 per cent of GDP by 2015 and to 26 per cent of GDP by 2021.

Considering the growing demand of power, the draft plan has made recommendations to raise the country’s power generation to 7,000 MW by 2013 and 8,000 MW by 2015.

Assuming the demand for power in the country at 20,000 MW by 2021, it also suggests reducing gas-based power generation to 30 per cent, increase coal-based power generation to 53 per cent, nuclear power generation to 10 per cent and renewable power generation to 3 per cent.

To materialize the government’s dream of ‘Digital Bangladesh’ through strengthening information technology, the plan recommends making computer education compulsory at secondary level by 2013 and at primary level by 2021. Besides, target has been fixed to disseminate internet services to 50 per cent unions by 2015 and to 100 per cent unions by 2020.

Pvt sector’s Jan credit flow up, marginally

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Pvt sector’s Jan credit flow up, marginally
FE Report

Upward trend in the disbursement of private sector credit continued in January last, indicating a gradual improvement in the country’s overall business activities, officials and bankers said.

The rise in private sector credit was 19.25 per cent in January this year from 19.15 per cent in December 2009, according to the central bank statistics.

“The credit flow to private sector increased following rise in financing to small and medium enterprises (SME), agriculture and trade sectors,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE on Monday.

He said trade financing for the import of food grains particularly wheat and powered milk increased during the period under review because of price hike of the items in the global market.

The credit flow to the private sector rose to Tk 398.01 billion in January this year from Tk 357.74 billion in the same period of the previous calendar year, the BB’s data showed.

Both the central bank officials and senior bankers expect that private credit flow will rise sharply after announcing the guidelines on Public Private Partnership (PPP) investment initiative.

“We expect that the upward trend of private sector credit flow will continue in the near future if the power and gas supply situation improves,” a senior official of a commercial bank told the FE.

Prime Bank to hike investment in telecom, power projects

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Prime Bank to hike investment in telecom, power projects
FE Report

Prime Bank has planned to scale up financing in infrastructures including the capital-intensive power and telecom sectors as part of its efforts to boost industrialisation in the country, its chief executive officer (CEO) said Monday.

Risk-averse Bangladeshi private banks usually stay clear of funding big projects, forcing many local investors to seek loans abroad or at a costly term from foreign financial giants operating in the country.

Prime Bank Limited CEO Ehsanul Haque said the PBL – the leading private bank in the country — wants to be an exception as it has planned to bankroll key energy and telecom projects in the coming months through its ‘hugely successful’ syndication lending arrangements.

“The risk sharing nature of the syndicated loan model makes it ideal for investing in mid and large scale infrastructure projects and over the years we have seen that such lending works perfectly well in the country,” Haque told newsmen at a briefing. to mark the occasion of “Decade of Loan Syndications: As Lead Arranger” in celebration of its ongoing journey for expanding partnership and building economy.

Haque said Bangladeshi economy needs massive investments in infrastructure and his bank “sees ample opportunities to provide large scale financing in power, telecommunications, renewable energy, tourism and communication related projects.”

“These are the sectors which are likely to grow enormously in the coming years and would require huge volume of large and mid scale financing which can better be served through syndicated loan schemes”, he added.

The 15-year-old private bank, over the last decade raised around Tk. 11.5 billion through syndicated financing as lead arranger while providing funds worth of another Tk. 4.5 billion either as participating banks.

This year, the bank has already arranged Tk. 850 million under such scheme for Sea Pearl Beach Resort and Spa Limited in Cox’s Bazar, which is set to be the first five star resort in Bangladesh promoting international time sharing.

Earlier, the bank also played a pioneering role in raising syndication loan for the country’s first vacuum evaporated salt re-crystallization plant, the first hydrogen peroxide project and the first ever float glass manufacturing plant.

In 2006, the bank arranged the first ever Sharia’h based syndicated investment facility and at the same time, it has imparted training on syndication techniques and practices for central bank officials, officials said.

“Years ago, only the multinational banks used to take the leading role in syndicated financing but lately the local private banks have come forward to dominate the scene”, Ehsanul Haque said.

Terming the syndicated loan scheme as the future in the banking sector, he said, “The greater opportunity for risk sharing in syndicated financing would enable the local banks to finance a greater number of up and coming infrastructure projects requiring sizable investments”.

Haque called for quicker initiation of the government’s Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects, underlining these large-scale infrastructures would require joint financing by the government and private sector to take off.

“Until now, the local private banks have largely opted out of financing large-scale power sector projects as they usually involve long term investment and pose greater risk”, Ehsanul said.

“But once the PPP model comes into play, the private lenders can also go into joint collaboration with the government sector for financing such mega ventures”, he added.

Facelift for farming

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=131180

Facelift for farming
Sohel Parvez

Machines are taking over farming in Bangladesh — slowly but surely — a major shift in centuries-old manual cultivation.

Ploughing with cows and buffaloes and irrigating fields manually will soon be a thing of the past.

About 67 percent of the 76 lakh hectares of arable lands are irrigated by mechanised means. Power tillers and tractors till nearly 70 percent of 13.74 million hectares of total cropland, analysts said.

With progress made in threshing, almost all maize is shelled by machine and in the case of rice, threshing by machine is about 50 percent, agronomists said.

The adoption of the mechanised methods facilitated timely cultivation, resulting in a rise in production.

It has also reduced the cost of tilling, absorbed a portion of farm labour and accelerated growth in workshop and production facilities for farm machinery and repair services.

“Farming is changing with time. A decade ago, almost all farms used animals to plough with. Now, you will hardly find tilling by cattle in our locality,” said Momtaz Hossain, a 55-year-old farmer at Mohadevpur, Naogaon.

Hossain, who has 30 years of experience in farming, linked the drop in tilling by cattle mainly to labour shortages.

“Seven years ago, I had eight tilling cows. But I switched to power tillers because of a dearth of workers. It has become tough nowadays to hire people to look after cows.”

“It is possible to till more than three acres of land from dawn to dusk with a power tiller. In case of cattle, only half an acre of land could be tilled until noon,” said Hossain, who owns 10 acres of arable land.

To reduce dependence on animals and labourers, Hossain also bought a thresher in 2000.

Although no official data on farm mechanisation is available, over 400,000 power tillers along with nearly 15,000-20,000 tractors are now in use in agriculture, according to researchers.

“It’s a silent revolution that began after the 1988 flood,” said RI Sarker, a professor of the farm power and machinery department, Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU).

Although the journey began as part of a so-called ‘Green Revolution’, advancements were slow until 1988 because of the standardisation requirements of the government.

Loss of tilling animals in the 1988 flood led the government to relax rules that later encouraged increased imports of farm implements, mainly from China and India. This leads to growth in sales and expansion of farm machinery.

Experts said shortages of tilling cattle as well as farm labourer in peak season were the main factors behind the rise in such mechanisation. Promotional campaigns by public agriculture research institutes and private sector marketers also supported the growth.

“Now about 70 percent of the total crop area is tilled by power tillers and tractors,” said Md Syedul Islam, head of farm machinery and post-harvest technology division, Bangladesh Rice Research Institute.

“One of the main benefits of mechanised tilling is timely cultivation, which farmers cannot ensure by depending on tilling by cattle,” he said. “It is estimated that farmers incur a loss of about 50 kilograms of paddy a hectare every day, if transplantation goes behind the schedule.”

Monjurul Alam, a BAU professor, said a labour shortage in peak season caused delayed plantation and harvesting, leading to lower output.

Despite advancements, progress in mechanised transplantation and harvesting still goes slow.

However, remarkable growth has been seen in threshing of major crops, such as rice, maize and wheat.

“Farmers are now using nearly three lakh closed drum and open drum threshers. Some 25,000-30,000 threshers are being made locally every year to meet the increasing demand,” said Alam who conducted a study on value chain in the agri-machinery

sub-sector of Bangladesh in favour of SouthAsia Enterprise Development Facility (SEDF) in 2005.

“Farm machinery is revolving around a section of entrepreneurs who invest in farm machinery to earn money,” he said.

Wais Kabir, executive chairman of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (Barc), said mechanised cultivation has increased without institutional support.

“Mechanisation is on the rise because of individual efforts,” he said. However progress in mechanised plantation, reaping and fertiliser application remains slow, he added.

“Also, availability of quality machinery remains a problem. The government should introduce standardisation requirements so that farmers receive quality farm machinery,” he said.

The Barc executive chairman also suggested mainstreaming the issue of mechanised cultivation in the agenda of Department of Agricultural Extension to create awareness among farmers on the benefits.

sohel@thedailystar.net

Local company to invest $4.9m at KEPZ

http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2010/03/23/news0884.htm

Local company to invest $4.9m at KEPZ
Business Report

Texture Art Limited, a Bangladeshi company, will set up a Garments Manufacturing Industry at the Karnaphuli Export Processing Zone (KEPZ).

This 100 per cent local-owned company will invest US Dollar 4.9 million to set up their plant and will produce garments items. The company will also create employment opportunity for 1540 Bangladeshi nationals. An agreement to this effect was signed between the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority and M/s. Texture Art Limited at BEPZA Complex, Dhaka recently. Md. Moyjuddin Ahmed, Member (Investment Promotion) of BEPZA and Syed Qumrul Hossain, Chairman of M/s. Texture Art Limited signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organizations.

Brig General Jamil Ahmed Khan, ndc, psc, Executive Chairman, AKM Mahabubur Rahman, Member (Finance), Md. Shawkat Nabi, Secretary, AZM Azizur Rahman, General Manager (Investment Promotion) and other officials of BEPZA were present at the signing ceremony.

Indian company to set up industry in Ctg EPZ

http://www.theindependent-bd.com/details.php?nid=166919

Indian company to set up industry in Ctg EPZ
Unb, Dhaka

Jay Jay Mills (Bangladesh) Pvt Limited, an Indian company, will set up a garment manufacturing industry in Chittagong Export Processing Zone involving US$ 3 million.

The company will also create employment opportunity for 6000 Bangladeshi nationals, said a press release.

An agreement to this effect was signed between the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority and Jay Jay Mills (Bangladesh) Pvt.  Limited at BEPZA Complex here  on Sunday. Md. Moyjuddin Ahmed, Member (Investment Promotion) of BEPZA and M Balasubramaniyam, Chairman of Jay Jay Mills (Bangladesh) Pvt. Limited signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations.

Low-priced Chinese mobiles take on known brands

http://www.newagebd.com/2010/mar/23/busi.html#1

Low-priced Chinese mobiles take on known brands

Mobile phone sets of different brands are on display at a shop at Bashundhara City in Dhaka. The photo was taken on Monday. — New Age photo

Shakhawat Hossaim

Sales of low-priced Chinese origin mobiles marked a high growth in recent times in Bangladesh challenging the domination of leading global mobile brands, experts and traders said.

Brand giants such as Nokia, Samsumg, LG, Siemens, Sagem and Sony Eriksson which dominated the market even two years ago are now facing challenges these days from lesser known brands such as Symphony, Maximus, Sprint, Digital and I-Max.

‘Most of such non-brand Chinese sets account for about 60 per cent of the monthly sales volume,’ the Bangladesh Mobile Phone Businessmens’ Association president, Nizam Uddin Ziku, said.

He told New Age customers, especially low-end users, were showing less interest in known brands which sell for double the prices of Chinese origin sets but have less features.

Users also feel comfortable as importers give a year’s warranty for such Chinese sets, said an official of the Siemens Bangladesh, which started marketing Maximus two years ago.

On an average at least a million new mobiles are sold in Bangladesh every month as the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission statistics show the number of new connections increased to 53.83 million till January from 50.51 million in November 2009.

Market operators have said traders have sold mobiles worth Tk 300 crore each month in the recent past.

They said official dealers had almost stopped selling brands such as Motorola, Siemens, Sagem and Sony Eriksson in the local market.

Many of them have rather started marketing low-priced Chinese origin sets to stay competitive against market leaders Nokia and Samsung, they said.

Rageebul Kabir, managing director of the CMPL Nokia, a major distributor of Nokia brand in Bangladesh, said in July 2009 that import of a large quantity of non-brand Chinese mobile had posed worries for traders of mobiles of reputed brands.

There are around 300 mobile importers in Bangladesh, according to statistics available with the telecoms regulatory commission. But only 30 to 40 businessmen are active. Almost all mobile imports are from China.

The mobile phone businessmen’s association president said, ‘All mobiles come from China but we supply sets for low prices.’

Rural fish farm plan announced

http://www.theindependent-bd.com/details.php?nid=166914

Rural fish farm plan announced
BSS, RANGPUR

Mar 22 : Rangpur-Dinajpur Rural Service (RDRS) has taken a massive plan of farming 3.5 crore GIFT Tilapia fingerlings in rice fields to produce 700 tonnes additional fish worth Taka 11 crore this season in 10 northern districts.

The programme is now being implemented after the poor and marginal farmers achieved tremendous success by producing 293 tonnes additional fish and 1.2 crore fingerlings in rice fields to improve their livelihoods in these districts last year.

The 3-year project of ‘Enhancing Impacts of Decentralized (fish) Seed Production (EIDSP)’ funded by Department of International Development (DFID) of the UK is being implemented and will be completed by June 2011 in Bangladesh, India and Nepal.

RDRS in collaboration with 11 partner organisations has been working since last year for producing quality fingerlings and GIFT Tilapia fish in rice fields to help the poor earning profits, tackling poverty and meeting their nutrition demand. This season, a total of 3.5 crore Tilapia fingerlings will be produced involving 8,827 rice field farmers and last year’s successful farmers, who are already preparing their boro-rice fields for breeding Tilapia broods during this Boro season. To make the programme successful, 2.3 lakh GIFT Tilapia broods fish have been reared in cages by the Satellite Brood Rearers at the community level and these broods will be distributed to the enrolled farmers for breeding in 790 hectares of rice fields.

The selected farmers have been developing small ditches in boro rice fields now and they will release the Tilapia broods in their rice-fields late March to April 2010, breeding will continue during April- May when the farmers will start selling their fingerlings.

Besides, the project will support to 709 seasonal pond farmers for rearing the major carp’s dhani (half-inch sized fries) and a total of 709 kg of dhani will be distributed to the seasonal pond farmers that will produce more 3.5 million fingerlings approximately.

“Because of availability of the quality fingerlings at community level, the farmers are becoming more interested in culturing fish and requesting for more Tilapia broods this time,” Project Coordinator Sattyanarayan Roy of EIDSP told the news agency yesterday. He said that more than 3.5 lakh GIFT Tilapia fingerlings worth Taka 4 crore will be produced during Boro season and 700 metric tonnes additional Tilapia fish worth Taka 7 crore in these 10 northern districts before the T-Aman harvest this year.

After completion of the project by the year 2011, a total of 21,000 targeted farmers of these districts will produce six crore GIFT Tilapia fingerlings and 6,000 tonnes additional Tilapia fish worth Taka sixty crore annually, the experts said.

Like the last year, the project will be implemented in Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari, Gaibandha, Dinajpur, Thakurgaon, Panchagarh, Rajshahi, Naogaon and Chapainawabganj this year in the region.

Using the proven technology of producing GIFT Tilapia fingerlings, 8,833 rural poor farmers successfully produced fingerlings on 886 hectares rice fields and 1,734 farmers cultivated carp fingerlings on 98 hectares seasonal ponds last year.

The involved families also then earned extra profits from the same rice-fields without hampering rice production and got nutrients from fish regularly and it also reduced use of pesticides and fertilizers improving soil health and environment.

Director of RDRS and Team Leader of EIDSP Dr Syed Samsuzzaman told BSS that the proven environment friendly technologies for making available quality fingerlings to the door end of farmers has been helping them to alleviate poverty and getting nutrition.

Renowned fisheries expert Dr Benoy Kumar Barman of the Worldfish Centre told that each of the involved farmer household will be able to produce 2,500 Tilapia fingerlings from their rice fields of 20 decimal areas on an average.

Last week, Vansi Reddi, Research Associate of National Resource International Ltd visited the project in Kurigram and Nilphamari, talked to the farmers and expressed satisfaction over the lowest cost project to facilitate fish farming benefiting the farmers.

During their visits to Rangpur last year, Prof. Dr David Little of University of Stirling in the UK, Dr Madhav Shrestha of Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science of Nepal and Kuddus Ansary of India saw brighter prospects of the project.

Yale Business School team visits Square Pharma plant

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Yale Business School team visits Square Pharma plant
FE Report

Square Pharmaceuticals Ltd hosted the visit of a 27-member team from the Yale School of Management, one of the premier business schools in the world under the globally renowned Yale University, at its state-of-the-art UK MHRA approved Dhaka plant.

The visiting members were all graduating MBA students coming from diverse specialties ranging from medical sciences, economics, finance to general management, marketing and international development.

The visiting team was given a detailed tour of Square’s manufacturing facilities, which included the UK MHRA approved General Plant, the Cephalosporins’ Unit, the Small Volume Parenterals’ and Opthalmic Unit (SVP&O) and the newly commissioned Insulin Unit.

The visiting team expressed their profound appreciation on manufacturing and the quality benchmarks being adhered to in producing world-class pharmaceutical products.

The visit was rounded off with a question-and-answer session which was conducted on the back of a presentation, highlighting the core business activities of Square, its CSR (corporate social responsibility) activities and others, geared foward the students’ particular study needs, according to a press release.

Square Pharma is the country’s largest pharmaceutical company.

Laptop to be produced in Bangladesh soon

http://www.bssnews.net/newsDetails.php?cat=0&id=95889&date=2010-03-20

Laptop to be produced in Bangladesh soon

DHAKA, Mar 20 (BSS)- Telephone Shilpa Sangstha (TSS) will sign an agreement with Malaysian company Think F Transistor (TFT) to produce laptop in the country for Taka 12,000 only.

TSS Managing Director Ismail Hossain told BSS that all paper works in this connection has been finalized.

Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) experts gave technical opinion saying that the tender floated by TFT is acceptable.

Laptops of three brands with a measure of 8.9, 10.2 and 12.2 inches will be produced, which are expected to come in the market by June.

TSS is taking preparation to produce 10,000 laptops per month. Most of the accessories will be procured from local market.

At the initial stage, TSS will take technical support from TFT and later, TSS will produce laptop by its own. Four international companies took participate in the tender for producing laptops.

Grameen, Adidas to make low-cost shoes

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=130925

Grameen, Adidas to make low-cost shoes
Sajjadur Rahman

Grameen Group and German sports apparel maker Adidas are planning for a joint venture to make low-cost shoes in Bangladesh for the poor.

If the deal gets through, it will be a major footprint in Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus’ social business.

As the first step, the two sides have signed a memorandum of understanding and are working together on how to bring the products into market tentatively by year-end, said officials of Yunus Centre, the hub of the Nobel laureate’s social business activities.

Grameen and Adidas are working on the price issue, they said.

Dairy giant Groupe Danone and water company Veolia — both from France — have already launched separate joint social business ventures with Grameen to serve the poor with nutrition and safe-drinking water.

Germany’s BASF SE and Intel of USA have also entered joint venture social businesses with Grameen to produce chemically-treated mosquito-nets and provide information and communication technology for the poor.

Grameen has also tied up with Germany’s top chain store Otto to set up a garment factory.

Grameen-Adidas will be the latest in Yunus’s social business efforts.

At a meeting at Yunus Centre last week, Yunus said: “The shoes will be cheap and affordable by the poor.”

“It will protect people from diseases.”

Nadina Terrera, assistant programme officer of Yunus Centre, told The Daily Star yesterday: “We are working on the price issue. It will be quite affordable for the poor.”

Prof Yunus in his speech on Prof Hiren Mukerjee Memorial Lecture on December 2009 in Indian parliament said: “The goal of the Grameen-Adidas company is to make sure that no one, child or adult, goes without shoes.”

“This is a health intervention to make sure that people in the rural areas, particularly children, do not have to suffer from parasitic diseases that can be transmitted through walking barefoot.”

sajjad@thedailystar.net