Organic dry fish production

Mukul’s success story

Mokaddesur Rahman (Mukul), a businessman from Chauddagram upazila of Cumilla has been succeeded by producing organic dry fish in greenhouse method in Cox’s Bazar, Chattogram. Mukul came to Cox’s Bazar from Chauddagram of Comilla in 2006. He had a dream to build such a business. For this purpose, he set up a dry fish processing center at North Nunarchar in Cox’s Bazar and also set up a sales center at Labuni Point in Zila Parishad Market. Then he went to different places of Cox’s Bazar and realized that there is a huge demand for dried fish due to marine area.

But he noticed that many of the producers use pesticides like Dithane-M 45, Shobicron, and Diazinon to ward off maggots and flies. A 2016 study by Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) identified the toxins used for drying fish as “one of the main causes of cancer”.

It said Chattogram saw a rise in number of cancer patients in recent times and the reason was the high consumption of dried fish. However, with the technical assistance from the Marine Fisheries Research Center at Cox’s Bazar, he set up a dry fish processing center called “Purity Organic Dry Fish” according to greenhouse method at Cox’s Bazar’s North Nunarchar and a sales center was set up at Labuni Point in Zila Parishad Market.

At first, he started the business alone but now 125 workers are working in his factory. As a result of its 100% organic and quality dry fish, the value of its dry fish has increased all over the country. In addition, the World Food Program (WFP) has been purchasing organic dry fish from his organization since 2016. Besides, he is working also with various products including marine fish and seaweed. But now his products are being sold at several malls including Unimart, Shwapno, BG Group.

He has already exported his products to Canada, USA and China. Mukul said “There is a huge demand for seaweed in a number of countries, including China, Thailand, Japan and Korea. Despite financial problems, I am working hard to capture this foreign market.” He added that he is working to deliver the non-toxic and fully organic marine products to the doorsteps of the people of this country and also have a target to export marine products worth Tk 1 crore in 2021-22 financial year.

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