Pakistan Defence

BSS, Dhaka

An unconventional product was added to Bangladesh's export basket as the country's lone crocodile farm has finally been able to send 67 crocs to Germany through air yesterday, half a decade into its inception.

"A Thai Airways flight carrying the 67 frozen saltwater crocs of different age groups yesterday left Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport for Germany ", Mustaq Ahmed, Managing Director and CEO of Reptile Farm Ltd (RFL), told BSS.

"We are very much delighted with the maiden export of crocs from Bangladesh as our dreams were fulfilled at last," he said, adding Bangladesh is the first country in South Asia to export farm grown crocodiles.

Mushtaq said Germany's Heidelberg University is importing the crocodiles for research purposes. "The export of crocodiles from Bangladesh would fetch US Dollar one lakh, ushering in a hope of croc business in the country," he said.

Earlier on January 21, the Department of Forest (DoF) gave the permission for exporting the crocodiles, Mushtaq said thanking the media for their sincere cooperation to this end.

He along with Mesbahul Huq, a pharmacist, set up the croc farm on 15 acres of land at Hatiber village under Bhaluka upazila in Mymensingh district.

After exporting 67 crocodiles to Germany, there are now about 700 crocs in the farm, Mushtaq said.

While the project is Mushtaq's brainchild, it was Haque's investment that helped turn the dream into a reality. The two entrepreneurs were aided in their maiden venture with technical assistance from South Asian Enterprise Development Facility (SEDF) and with financial support from the Equity and Entrepreneur fund (EEF) unit of Bangladesh Bank. RFL also received assistance from Southeast Bank Ltd.

The duo brought 75 reptiles ranging from 7 feet to 12 feet in lengths from Malaysia for commercial breeding of crocs at a cost of Taka 1.25 crore. Of them, eight died on the way to the farm established in October 2004. Mushtaq said they set up the farm with an aim to export over 5,000 pieces of crocodile skin annually and create a base for earning up to US$ 5 million by 2015.

Different countries, including France, Germany, Italy and Spain, have shown keen interest in importing croc skins from their farm, he said, expressing hope that their farm would be able to export 500 croc skins by next two or three years.

He said there is a huge demand for croc skins, meat and bones in Europe, America and other developed countries like Australia, Japan, Singapore and China, and charcoal made from crocodile bones is indispensable to the global perfume industry.

Mushtaq said their farm follows the Australian standard and fulfills the criteria of IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) and CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) in breeding crocs.

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-off people pay high prices for those.

A good quality crocodile leather bag is sold for US$ 50,000 to US$ 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 necklace and showpieces, which also enjoy high international demand.