The country's lone commercial reptile farm will send its first shipment to Europe on Thursday, half a decade into its inception.
The Reptile Farm Ltd will ship out 67 frozen saltwater crocodiles of different age groups, ranging from newborn to adult, to Heidelberg University in Germany, for research purposes. The order came from the university last year.
"We are not skinning them, just freezing them with dry ice, and then packing them. The importers have their specific orders, so we have to go by that," said Mustaque Ahmed, the farm's managing director.
The processing is being done on the farm premises in Bhaluka of Mymenshigh, he said adding, "We are killing them with anesthetics, and shipping them by air."
Crocodile meat and hide also have huge global demand. The meat is consumed widely in Australia, Japan, Singapore, China, and the US. A kilogramme of crocodile meat is sold for seven to eight dollars on the international market.
"We also have orders for meat and hide," said Mustaque adding that they have export orders from other European countries and Japan as well.
Bangladesh is the first country in South Asia to export farm grown crocodiles, he said.
Mustaque and his business partner Mesbahul Hoque, who is also the chairman of the farm, started working on the project in 2002, and got the government permission in May 2004.
They imported 75 adult crocodiles from Malaysia in December 2004, and now the farm has over 700 of the reptiles.
Some other local companies are also taking initiatives to set up crocodile farms, Mustaque said.
Crocodiles are being commercially farmed in 40 countries including China, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Vietnam.
Fashionable items made of crocodile hide also have great global demand. Well to do people pay high prices for those.
A good quality crocodile leather bag is sold for $50,000 to $55,000, and the clients are even willing to wait for two to three years for delivery.
Crocodile teeth, and other by-products are used for making ornaments including garlands, and showpieces, which also enjoy high international demand.
Charcoal made from crocodile bones is used in production of perfumes.
Source: http://www.thedailystar.net
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