Bangladesh stands at a critical crossroads in its journey toward food sovereignty. As November 2025, the nation’s fisheries and livestock sectors have reached important production milestones, contributing over 3.5% to the national GDP and providing roughly60% of the population’s animal protein intake. However, this quantitative success masks a qualitative emergency. This comprehensive review, utilizing the 13 HLPE Principles of Agroecology and the Food System Framework, reveals that the foundational policies—the National Fisheries Policy 1998 and the National Livestock Development Policy 2007—are fundamentally “System Uninformed” and ill-equipped for the complexities of the 21scentur
The core of the crisis is two-fold: a catastrophic failure in public health governance and profound lack of sectoral integration. Decades of policy inaction have allowed the uncontrolled proliferation of antimicrobials and chemicals. Current evidence indicates a public health emergency; Nature (2023) highlights that two-thirds of fish samples in Bangladesh harbor multidrug-resistant E. coli, while Islam et al. (2020) found antibiotic residues in nearly 48% of farmed fish. In the livestock sector, prophylactic antibiotic use persists on over 90% of poultry farms (FAO, 2023), with “last-resort” human medicines like Colistin documented in production chains (Rahman et al., 2021).
Furthermore, the review identifies a “Critical Integration Gap.” Despite being housed und the same ministry, the fisheries and livestock sectors operate in silos. This prevents the adoption of synergistic livestock-fish systems that could increase yields by 4-5 tons per hectare through the valorization of livestock waste (Rahman et al., 2017). Simultaneously, an “Export-led Monoculture” bias in the Fisheries Policy has prioritized high-value shrimp for foreign exchange over nutrient-dense Small Indigenous Species (SIS), which are essential for preventing childhood stunting and ensuring maternal health (Roos et al., 2007).
Policy Dialogue on “Basic Policies of the Fisheries and Livestock Sector: Implementation Challenges and the Way Forward
To avert a systemic collapse, this paper argues for an immediate paradigm shift toward a System Transformative framework. This involves the creation of a unified National Food System Policy, the legal mandating of a “One Health” approach, and a transition to circular agroecological practices that prioritize domestic nutrition and ecological regeneration over unchecked export growth.
