In the Moshtaikkya village of Nazirartek, Cox’s Bazar, the season for making dried fish powder (shutki gura), which is sold as fish feed, is in full swing. Workers are drying rotten fish and waste in the sun to prepare shutki. Later, a machine grinds the fish into fine powder by mixing it with salt, flour, puffed rice, husk, and shell.
The production of shutki gura is well-known across the country. This process continues from September to April every year. Traders report that 52 units in Moshtaikkya village produced dried fish powder worth 110 crore Taka last season.
This season, production is ongoing in 68 units, and the traders are hopeful that the total value of dried fish powder will exceed 150 crore Taka.
The price of shutki gura is between 60-80 Taka per kilogram. It takes about 2.5 to 3 kilograms of raw fish to produce 1 kilogram of the powder.
Md Badruljaman, district’s fisheries officer of Cox’s Bazar, said that the powder is high in protein, which helps to quickly increase the weight of fish.
Only in Cox’s Bazar is this dried fish powder produced, and the demand for it is increasing across the country.
By Rajin Saleh
Photo: Hussain Shetu
