VGF cards to be increased for ultra-poor: Dr Razzak

Newly appointed Food and Disaster Management Minister Dr Abdur Razzak yesterday said they will increase the number of VGF (vulnerable group feeding) cards for ultra-poor people soon to give them relief from price hike of essentials.
"Prices of essentials have to be reduced keeping consistency with the income of people," he said while talking to newsmen on the first day at his Secretariat office.
He said propaganda is going on that the present government had pledged to the people to feed them rice at Tk 10, adding, "Neither such a commitment has been made in the Awami League's election manifesto, nor such things have been told anywhere else."
Pointing to the current rate of food production, the food minister said the growth of food production did not increase at an expected rate which was supposed to be. The growth rate of production was 8 percent in 2000 and it marked a decline in 2001.
He further said that the government's main focus will be to augment production, not import; but they will also import food, if necessary.
Expressing hope, Razzak said, "If we can take proper steps, it is possible to make Bangladesh self-dependent in food."
The government has now a stock of 12.55 lakh tonnes of food and the stockpile will be increased by fulfilling the existing warehouses and establishing new ones, he added.