After having lived in the US for about 22 years Md. Mazharul Islam returned to his homeland Bangladesh with a determined goal-to contribute in a meaningful way to the economic development of his beloved country. His idea was to add to the export basket a totally new item- meat. He had worked for different grocery shops in the US and the experience came in handy as he undertook to translate his vision to reality. Thus came into being the first meat-processing factory in the country, Bengal Meat Processing Industries limited, of which Mazhar is both chairman and managing director. "I think this industry will help poor farmers and create some employment opportunity contributing to the GDP of the country."

49% of the company's share is held by Bangladesh Bank while the rest by the seven company directors including Mazhar himself.

Plant Description

Bengal Meat is a modern abattoir (slaughterhouse) established in Santhia, Pabna. This state-of-the-art factory, first of its kind in Bangladesh, was designed, equipped and commissioned by a leading Australian company in food processing automation, Food Equipment Australia (FEA). "They meet world export standards and other crucial benchmarks like HACCP, ISO and HALAL," claims Mazhar. "Their product range includes Cattle beef, Cara beef, Veal, Goat meat and Lamb both in chilled and frozen state. They process Whole Carcass, Quarter Carcass, Primal Cuts, Custom/Local Cuts, and Minced Meat."

Bengal Meat has a total area of 9.15 acres of land; the built area covers 70,373 sq ft. and the plant 24,000 sq. ft. The rest of the area includes animal sheds, by-products shed, general & chemical store, compressor and power station, office and staff dormitory.

The plant is a pre-fabricated steel building over RCC substructure, accommodating Kill-floor, Chiller, Freezer and Boning area. Floor and wall joints are coved. Floors are painted with granulated epoxy coating. Walls and ceilings are made of steel powder coated insulated panels sealed with silicon. The abattoir has the capacity to process up to 300 cattle and 2000 small stock daily. The boning room is integrated with the abattoir having space of about 4,000 sq. ft. and has the capacity to process 34 tons of meat in one shift of eight hours. "In our plant, we can drag down every animal," says Mazhar.

There are two freezer stores having capacity of 30 tons each and two blast freezers each with 8 tons freezing capacity in 16 hours. The plant is powered from the National Grid and supported by a standby generator.

Bengal Meat has built a dormitory for their employees at their plant premises.

Supply of Livestock and Quality Control Measures

Bengal Meat collects livestock from all over Bangladesh, especially from Northern and North Western districts of Bangladesh such as Pabna, Rajshahi, Bogra, Nogaon, Jhinaidaha, Jessore, Kushtia, Sirajgonj, Natore, Nawabganj, Joypurhat, Chuadanga and Netrokona.

To maintain the quality/standard of the product (meat), strict quality control measures are taken from the very beginning of the production process. "We have made an agreement with 50-60 farmers-which is termed contract farming-to maintain the quality of animals from the growing stage," claims Mazhar. "We provide all the necessary technical support to our contract farmers. They supply the required animals daily. Besides, we collect our livestock by purchasing them direct from local farmers-that is we have haat (bazaar) collection. At the same time we are planning to start our own livestock-growing farm within a very short period of time, which will be a source of a good portion of our required livestock/raw material. And to test the quality of livestock we have well-trained staffs."

Byproduct and Waste Management

Mazhar informs ET that the byproducts and waste produced in the plant are treated separately and managed properly so that they do not create any health hazards by contaminating the product or polluting the environment. He says liquid waste is drawn away through underground drains to the Effluent Treatment Plant. Wastewater is treated chemically and then biologically with duckweed. The treated water is channeled into fishponds. Solid wastes are converted into compost in a covered compost pit. All byproducts are disposed of as per standard procedures. There are separate sheds for dealing with all inedible byproducts.

Human Resources

There are 169 people working in the plant and head office of Bengal Meat Processing Industries limited. "As we bought and imported all our necessary equipment from Australia on a turn-key basis, they [the Australian company] installed all the equipment. The trainers from Australia stayed here for three months and trained our local people. Apart from this we conduct regular training for our employees," says Mazhar.

Challenges & Marketing Strategies

"As we are the first in this industry, challenges are huge," observes Mazhar. "Establishing a plant itself has been a big challenge. There were no rules and regulations for this kind of factory before. There was no infrastructural concept about this business." Underscoring the importance of cleanliness in such factories, he says, "Basically meat is a very sensitive product. It must be handled hygienically. We have initiated it for the first time. The consumer often does not know what they are eating-whether they are eating cows or buffalos or red buffalos or something else. But such factory as ours has to follow many rules and regulations and with proper supervision guarantee top class quality of meat."

Surely exporting meat is a new concept in Bangladesh. But with Bengal Meat showing the way, uncertainty surrounding the new venture will have dissipated to a large extent encouraging future entrepreneurs. "They will not face many of the challenges we have faced," says Mazhar. "The entire process is now ready for them. We have shown the road to others." However, he thinks any new entrant will face the challenge of ensuring availability of raw materials. "If you can ensure this there is a huge opportunity for business in this sector."

Although Bengal Meat is 100% export oriented they have started selling meat locally to the five-stars hotels and the superstores/departmental stores of the country. "Right now, we are in institutional sales," says Mazhar, adding that the company is not looking to sell meat in the mass market; they are focusing on direct marketing and so not going for local advertising or promotional campaigns.

To export meat, there are many rules and regulations to follow, observes Mazhar. One such rule is to have their plant certified by the importing country. "So far we have been certified in the Middl -East. Now we are trying to have approval from Malaysia, Egypt, Canada as well as a few other countries. Our marketing and sales teams are quite busy with international buyers. They are preparing the necessary documents for exporting our products to different countries."

It is more than a year since Bengal Meat started trial production. "But the challenges are still there," says the company chairman. "Bangladesh never exported meat before. We are the first to take the initiative to export meat legally and the good news is we have started exporting to the Middle East. Still there is a lot of work to do. The certification process is very sensitive. You cannot export meat anywhere in the world without the permission of the importing country. Each country has its own regulations and our country has to meet those regulations."

Getting approval from meat-importing countries is a very lengthy process, Mazhar further observes. But once Bengal Meat gets certification from a country it means other companies can export meat to that country. "So whoever comes next into the business will not face these challenges."

-ET Report