47000 extreme poor fishermen will get VGF rice in Barishal

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File photo

BARISHAL, Oct 12, 2020 (BSS) – The government will distribute rice among 47,000 extreme poor fishermen in the district during the upcoming official restriction imposed on catching fish for 22 days effective from October 14.

“A total of 940 tonnes rice will be distributed among 47000 fishermen under the vulnerable group feeding (VGF) programme—where each of the fishermen will get 20 kg rice during this period to be continued till November 4”, district fisheries department officials said.

The VGF rice will be distributed under priority basis among the extreme poor fishermen while the district has 75,691 registered fishermen.

The rice under the programme which has been allocated for the fishermen has already been sent to the concerned upazila and union councils from the district.

Confirming the number of fishermen, district fisheries Officer Abu Sayeed said, “the government is carrying out the programme in an effort to stop fishing during the main breeding period of hilsa as Bangladesh is top hilsa producing country in the world.”

As the government initiative of imposing ban on catching fish during the breeding period has increased the production of the national fishes to manifold during the last ten years as the particular species of fish contributes 12 per cent of the total fish output of the country.