Mohammad Amin Ur Rashid, minister for agriculture and fisheries and livestock, has said the government led by the BNP and Tarique Rahman firmly believes that the overall economy will be strong only when the agriculture sector is strong. As long as agriculture is not robust, the economy cannot move forward sustainably, he said.

He was speaking at the opening of the Jatka Conservation Week (7-13 April) programme, held with a colourful ceremony at the confluence of three rivers in the town's Boro Station area at noon on Tuesday, 7 April.

The minister said the government had started work on its pledges right after the election. Distribution of family cards began before the ink of the vote had dried, and farmer cards will be introduced from the coming Pahela Baishakh.

He said implementation of the pre-election pledge to waive farmers' loans had also begun. "Many thought these were just election promises, but in reality we have carried them out. Bank loans of up to Tk 10,000 have been waived," he said.

The theme of this year's Jatka Conservation Week is "If we stop catching jatka, sea and rivers will fill with hilsa". In line with it, various programmes have been taken up in this river-based region to raise hilsa production, protect breeding and build awareness against killing jatka.

The opening ceremony was chaired by Md Delowar Hossain, secretary of the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock. Special guests included Sheikh Farid Ahmed Manik, MP for Chandpur-3; Md Zia Haider Chowdhury, director general of the Department of Fisheries; Dr Anuradha Bhadra, director general of the Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute; Captain Mehedi Hasan, regional commander of the Bangladesh Coast Guard; navy officer Captain Mohammad Nurunnabi Khandaker; Chandpur Deputy Commissioner Ahmed Ziaur Rahman; Superintendent of Police Md Rabiul Hasan; and Syed Mushfiqur Rahman, superintendent of the river police for the Chandpur region.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.