Sector cooperation

Denmark and Bangladesh have entered into two Strategic Sector Cooperation – projects within labour markets and food and agriculture. A strategic sector cooperation (SSC) is a government-to-government cooperation based on working peer to peer between the Bangladeshi and the Danish authority. The overall objective of SSC is to promote sustainable economic growth and development in Bangladesh through cooperation and knowledge sharing between Danish public institutions and organizations and counterparts in Bangladesh. This is done by sharing Danish expertise, knowledge, and technology in specific sectors and building long-term partnerships and relationships.

Food and agriculture
The food and agriculture sector lies the foundation for a safe, sustainable and healthy diet for the world’s population, is an important sector to ensure employment and reduce poverty. Furthermore, agriculture- and food production is closely linked with climate adaptation and mitigating climate change. 

Denmark and Bangladesh are both countries with a long and proud history within agriculture-, aquaculture and food production. The strategic sector cooperation in food and agriculture is a project between the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration (DVFA) and counterpart authorities in Bangladesh. 

The aim of this SSC-project is to ensure a safe and sustainable food production in Bangladesh by working to ensure food safety in the dairy sector, create a more sustainable dairy production in Bangladesh and to combat AMR in within livestock production. 

Food safety in the dairy sector:
Access to sufficient amounts of safe and nutritious food is key to sustaining life and promoting good health for the nation. 

Bangladesh has several success stories on livestock transformation over the past few decades. The stories reflect successes in the role of investment in spurring transformation in dairy, beef, and poultry. Specifically, the dairy sector is marked by progressive transformation in aggregating milk from smallholder farmers, storage through network of cold chain, and transport to central processing plan for further distribution across the country. However, there are still challenges to address with food safety and quality in Bangladesh. The SSC-project will work to ensure an efficient and safe food safety and food safety control in Bangladesh. 

A more sustainable dairy production:
The livestock and dairy production in Bangladesh is rapidly developing. However, the dairy pro-duction faces challenges with the cow’s emissions of methane as livestock productions emission of methane is responsible for a third of the global greenhouse gas emissions. 

Furthermore, the SSC-project will work towards reducing food waste and loss within the hole value chain for the dairy sector. 

Combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the veterinary sector:
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the top ten global public health threats that the humanity is facing and it poses a threat to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Antibiotic resistance is already an emergent issue in Bangladesh, and the overuse of misuse of antibiotics in the veterinary sector is one of the major factors for this. 

The One Health initiative is an important framework for addressing several issues threatening health, including AMR. The essence of One Health approach in tackling AMR is that appropriate and effective collaborative efforts and partnerships are necessary across all the stakeholders including human health, animal health and environment sectors. This workshop will focus on the containment of AMR in the veterinary sector with a focus on animal health. 

Additional information
For more information, please contact Sector Counsellor Maria Stein Knudsen, [email protected].