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Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute

department · verified (verified 2026-05-17)

Profile

Head
Dr. Shakila Faruque
Role
Director General
Annual budget
—
Staff
148
Established
1984
Legal basis
The Livestock Research Institute Ordinance, 1984 (Ordinance No. XXVIII of 1984), which established BLRI as an autonomous institution under the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock; amended by The Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute (Amendment) Act, 1996 (Act No. IX of 1996).

BLRI is in active research and technology-transfer mode under DG Dr. Shakila Faruque: its indigenously developed LSD vaccine (LSD VAC BLRI 2023 Bangladesh 086) was handed to DLS in February 2025 for commercial production, making Bangladesh one of few low-income countries with a locally sequenced and attenuated LSDV vaccine strain (GenBank PP756497.1, published January 2025); BLRI's eight research divisions are conducting ongoing work on dairy cattle breed improvement (BCB-1/Pabna cattle genetic evaluation, crossbred bull semen banking), poultry genetics (sex-discernible layer line, semi-scavenging poultry), and animal genetics conservation (24 farm animal species and breeds, Black Bengal goat heritability programmes); BLRI is co-leading sub-national livestock GHG monitoring under FAO-MoFL climate NDC work, with a November 2025 national validation workshop advancing IPCC Tier 2 emissions accounting for Bangladesh.

Recent activity

Provenance & notes

Headquarters: Savar, Dhaka-1341 (500-acre campus, operational since 1985). Eight research divisions: Animal Production Research, Poultry Production Research, Animal Health Research, Biotechnology Research, Sheep and Goat Research, Socio-economic Research, Systems Research, and Training/Planning/Technology Testing. Regional stations: Baghabari (Sirajganj) and Naikhongchhari (Bandarban) are the two established stations; three additional regional stations were under construction as of the most recent available BLRI brief. Board of Management: 14 members, chaired by the Minister for Fisheries and Livestock; DG is chief executive. staff_count 148: Banglapedia states 65 scientists and 83 supporting staff (148 total); this is a figure from a Banglapedia snapshot and may not reflect current sanctioned posts. annual_budget_bdt null: no publicly disclosed standalone BLRI budget line found for FY 2025-26. head_since null: appointment date of Dr. Shakila Faruque as DG not found in any primary source consulted; she is confirmed as DG in BSS News (February 11, 2025 and June 14, 2025) and FAO (November 5, 2025). Dr. S M Jahangir Hossain is confirmed as the prior DG (edited the BLRI Annual Report 2022). LSD vaccine: BLRI Transboundary Animal Disease Research Center developed live-attenuated LSD VAC BLRI 2023 Bangladesh 086 from the 2021 Bangladesh LSD-29 isolate; genome sequence (150,878 bp, 161 ORFs, GC 25.9%) published in Microbiology Resource Announcements January 15, 2025 (PMC11812411); formally handed to DLS February 11, 2025. BCB-1: BLRI Cattle Breed-1, derived from Pabna-type local cattle, maintained at Savar farm with F1 crossbred bull semen banked; microsatellite DNA analyses confirm decreasing allelic diversity across generations. Poultry: BLRI developed a sex-discernible layer breed in 2014. Conservation: BLRI conserves 24 farm animal species/breeds and 43 fodder crop varieties. Technologies: 75 technologies and packages published as of most recent BLRI acquaintance document. verification_status 'verified': establishment year, legal basis, headquarters, mandate, parent ministry, board structure, DG name, and four specific 90-day events all cross-verified across two or more independent primary sources (Banglapedia + Wikipedia for institutional core; BSS News x2 + FAO + PMC for recent activity).

Sources