State Minister for Land Advocate Mostafizur Rahman MP has said that 2-lakh tones additional fish production is possible annually through enhancing pisciculture in rice fields in Rangpur division alone. For this, he suggested for inspiring the farmers, providing them with the latest scientific technologies, and educating them in producing quality fingerlings of high yielding GIFT Tilapia fish in their farmlands or other tiny places. He was addressing the final workshop on 'Enhancing the Impacts of Decentralized (Fish) Seed Production (RIU-DSP) Project organised Saturday by RDRS Bangladesh at Begum Rokeya auditorium in the city as the chief guest. Director of the World Fish Centre from Bangladesh and South Asia Office William J Kollis chaired the workshop and Divisional Commissioner Jashim Uddin Ahmed and Principal Scientific Officer of the Department of Fisheries Dr Md Abdul Jalil, attended as the special guests. Coordinator of the World Fish Centre Dr Binoy Kumar Barman and Head of Agriculture and Environment of RDRS Bangladesh Dr MG Neogi addressed the workshop and Kuddus Ansari from India conducted the technical session. The workshop was informed that the UK-based DFID-funded 3- year RIU-DSP Project would be completed simultaneously by May 31 next in Bangladesh, India and Nepal. RDRS Bangladesh has been implementing the project in Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari, Gaibandha, Dinajpur, Thakurgaon, Panchagarh, Rajshahi, Chapainawabganj and Naogaon districts in Bangladesh. Under the project, 18,000 fingerling producers has been produced and 21,000 targeted small and marginal farmers in these districts will now produce six crore GIFT Tilapia fingerlings and 6,000 tonnes additional Tilapia fish worth Taka 100 crore annually. The project enabled the selected farmers producing fingerlings in the small ditches in rice fields by releasing the Tilapia broods from late March to mid-April as breeding continues till April- May when the farmers start selling their fingerlings. BSS