The special credit programme of Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank (RAKUB) for boosting fish production has started gaining popularity everywhere in the country’s northwest region for the last couple of years. The bank has been operating the special loan programme styled “RAKUB fisheries village” for extensive fish cultivation in the northwest region of the country. The main objective of the programme is to encourage small farmers in fish farming so that they could produce more fish in the small ponds and other water- bodies using modern and scientific technologies instead of traditional ones.
The programme gives emphasis on forming fisheries village with at least 10-12 small ponds at potential places.
Talking to the agency, Managing Director of RAKUB Pradip Qumar Dutta said that there was a bright prospect for increasing fish production in all the northern districts with optimum uses of the existing natural resources.
Taking about the advantages of the situation, he said the bank has selected the fisheries sector on priority basis for supplementing the government’s efforts to attain the millennium development goals (MDGs).
At the preliminary stage, the RAKUB chief said 56 upazilas and union-level branches of the bank in Rajshahi, Natore, Naogaon, Pabna, Sirajganj, Dinajpur, Bogra, Rangpur and Kurigram districts have been disbursing the special loan successfully.  A total of Taka 9.77 crore has so far been disbursed among the interested fish farmers during the first eight months of the current fiscal.

News: The Independent/Bangladesh/17-Apr-2011