State observes 24th National Fish Farmers' Day
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, July 10 2024: As in other part of the country, Department of Fisheries observed the 24th National Fish Farmers' Day at its Lamphelpat office on Wednesday.

Speaking as chief guest of the programme, special chief secretary MH Khan expressed that in-spite of being a minor government undertaking, Fisheries Department is an important unit as the fishery sector is future economy of Manipur.

Even though Manipur is a fish consuming state, there is a huge gap between supply and demand, he noted, while reminding that substantial quantity of the fish consumed in the state are being imported from outside.

The special secretary explained how Andhra Pradesh and other South Indian states are dominating in fish production landscape along with confiding about the proposed action plan prepared with the help of Central Agricultural University (CAU), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and other experts from the government of India to bridge the demand and supply gap of fish in Manipur, submitted to the chief minister in 2020.Moreover, a project for induced breeding of 'Sareng' was launched by the CM considering that fishery is the future economy of the state, he added.

MH Khan further said that sharing the knowledge of successful farmers on fish rearing with other farmers will enhance productivity in the state, apart from convergence of different departments.

Highlighting that government of India has introduced the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) for development of the fishery sector, he stressed the need for the department to work in cohesion with departments like Agriculture, Horticulture, Forest and Environment and Climate Change in improving, conserving and production of indigenous fish species.

MH Khan also called for conducting more training programmes for fish farmers and taking up capacity building programme for the related staff for augmenting fishery activities.

In his address, Fisheries director H Balkrishna Singh stated that with the contribution and rigorous help of fish farmers, they have been able to address the short comings successfully within a short period of time.

He informed that hatchery farms have started functioning in recent times and fishery department, along with the fish farmers, has been able to achieve 'Sustainable Right of aquaculture'.

He assured that the Department of Fisheries is ever ready to help the fish farmers.

Six successful fish farmers, who are involved in promoting Sareng, shared their experiences and were felicitated along with some officials of the directorate in the function.

MPSC secretary and Fishery special secretary Neeta Arambam was also present at the function as guest of honour.

Similarly, College of Fisheries, CAU (COF-CAU), Imphal in association with North East.

Society for Fisheries and Aquaculture (NESFA), India observed the 24th National Fish Farmers' Day at the college campus.

The day is observed in India in commemoration of the revolutionary "Induced Breeding Technology" developed by Dr Hiralal Choudhury and Dr KH Alikhuni oh July 10, 1957, that transformed Indian aquaculture.

In a release, COF-CAU informed that the programme was attended by dean of the College Prof AB Patel, CAU Extension Education director Prof Dr Ph Ranjit Sharma, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), Tripura general manager Anil S Kotmire, Techno India University, Tripura vice chancellor Prof Ratan Kumar Saha, ICAR-Regional Centre, Tripura principal scientist and head Dr Burhan U Choudhury and Kalong-Kapili (NGO), Guwahati Assam director Jyotish Talukdar.

Progressive fish farmers, namely Rockson Kashung (Manipur), Khalainbor Pale (Meghalaya), Yeamoty Pigyor (Arunachal Pradesh), Da Norbu Sherpa (Sikkim), Ramdi Thou (Nagaland), Jaydev Sarkar (Assam), Lalhmunsanga (Mizoram) and Sujit Das (Tripura) were awarded.

The programme was jointly sponsored by NABARD, SBI, NFDB, ONGC, TECHNOPREZ, it continued, while adding that a farmers-scientists workshop on "Blue Trans--formation in North East India: Farmers' Perspectives" was also conducted.

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