The Department of Marketing, Faculty of Business Administration (FBA), AIUB organized a study tour to BRAC Dairy & Food Project (BDFP) and BRAC Agricultural Research & Development Centre (BARDC) on November 14, 2019, as a part of the regular students’ development program. Students from the marketing major courses of ‘Agro-based Product Marketing’ and ‘Sales Management’ went to the concerned units of BRAC to get some practical insights about the procurement of raw milk, processing, transportation, storage and warehousing, packaging and sales of the finished products of BDFP and the different agriculture research and development spheres conducted on crops, vegetables and other different plants of BARDC.

The study tour was divided into two parts. The first session of the day started with the visit to BRAC Dairy & Food Project (BDFP), where the visiting team of AIUB was greeted and initially briefed by Mr. Md. Shahidur Rabbani, AGM, Production, and Mr. Md. Zakir Hossain Mondal, Senior Manager, Quality Assurance, BDFP; about the raw milk sourcing from the rural areas, the collection and preservation of milk in the chilling centres, transportation used to bring the milk from the chilling centres, processing of the raw milk into different finished categorized products, pre and post-production storage and warehouses, distribution from the warehouses, and all types of backward and forward linkages in the entire supply chain management. After the detailed discussion on the issues, the students visited the different units of BDFP.

After the first session, the visiting team then visited to BRAC Agricultural Research & Development Centre (BARDC). Dr. Sitesh Chandra Biswas, Programme Specialist, Vegetable Research, Agriculture and Food Security, welcomed the team and briefed about the different types of researches conducted by BARDC such as tissue culture, seed and plant breeding, production and yield of different crops, vegetables and other type of plants followed by the visits to their different fields of vegetables and crops, greenhouse environment for breeding of different types of cactus in their nurseries. At the closing of each session, the faculty members presented the AIUB giftpacks on behalf of the University to the organization’s representatives as a gesture of appreciation.

The study tour was initiated and organized by Mr. Stanley Rodrick, and Mr. Hamidul Islam, Senior Assistant Professors, and facilitated by Ms. Tahsina Khan Nimmi, Senior Assistant Professor from the Department of Marketing, FBA, AIUB; under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Charles C. Villanueva, Vice President (Academics), & Dean, FBA, Ms. Farheen Hassan, Associate Professor & Director, BBA Program, and Dr. Khondaker Sazzadul Karim, Associate Professor & Head, Department of Marketing.

The Department of Marketing would like to express their kind gratitude to Ms. Sabrina Rahman, Assistant Professor, Department of THM, FBA, AIUB, Mr. Md. Fariduzzaman Rana, Senior Manager, Visitors' & Internship Unit, BRAC in assisting and coordinating the faculty members to arrange this study tour, and Dr. Md. Ariful Islam, Senior Manager and Head of Research, BRAC Seed and Agro Enterprise for his support in organizing this visit successfully.