State observes 23rd National Fish Farmers' Day
Source: Chronicle News Service / DIPR

Imphal, July 10 2023: The Department of Fisheries observed the 23rd National Fish Farmers' Day-2023 at the training hall of Directorate of Fisheries, Lamphelpat, Imphal on Mon-day.

Speaking on the occasion, Fisheries director H Balkrish-na Singh informed that the event is celebrated annually on July 10 to commemorate the success of induced breed-ing.

With the breakthrough of induced breeding, the evolu-tion of blue revolution came to India.

Every year, National Fish Farmers' Day is observed to celebrate the success of the growth of aquaculture sector, he added.

Stating that the dedication and contribution of the fish farmers needs recognition, he said Manipur is now the third state in the northeast with best performance in the fishery sector and appealed to all the fish farmers to work hard with dedication for their contri-bution in the state economy.

The director continued that although the state has huge potential in fishery, only 32 percent of the total potential could be tapped so far.

The state is unable to tap the full potential due to varied reasons including difficulties in pro-curing capital investments.

Even now, only ten percent of farmers are covered under dif-ferent government schemes.

Balkrishna then highlighted the schemes taken up by the Department of Fisheries for the welfare of the fish farmers.

He said that for the first time in the state, building of ice-plant and fish market that can scale up fish production were taken up under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yo-jana (PMMSY) scheme for the year 2021-22, for the benefit of fish farmers.

Various schemes were also implemented by the department, providing benefits to the farmers.

The department has been try-ing to accommodate all the beneficiaries of the scheme, taking into consideration their hard work and dedication, he added.

Informing that efforts are being made to include fish farmers under the Kisan Credit Loan, he said that if the centre were to provide farmer-friendly schemes to the centre, it could ensure full utilisation of the fishery potential of the state.

He then urged fish farmers to visit the Department's website and avail the benefits in addition to providing interactive and suggestive comments, while assuring that the Department will try its best to solve the various inconveniences of the farmers.

As part of the observance, awards were distributed to the winners of the Annual Fish Fair cum Fish Crop Compe-tition, 2022 organised by the Department on October 26 last year at Hapta Kangjeibung, Imphal.

Cash Prizes and ci-tations were handed over to three Highest Producer in In-dividual Category, one Highest Indigenous Fish Producer, 20 consolation prizes and to two District Officers with Highest Fish Production (Hill/Valley) along with Best Employees of Directorate of Fisheries, Manipur were also felicitated.

In the Individual Catego-ry, Dinamani Singh of Tentha village, Thoubal bagged the first place with production of 28,380 kg of fishes; Ningthem Ningombam of Sabungkhok secured the second place with around 29,090 kg and Salam Unil Shanta Singh of Khordak, Bishnupur third place with around 20,332kg.In the Indigenous Fish cat-egory, K Nabachandra Singh of Wangoo secured first place with a total of 5880kg of in-digenous fish.

Bishnupur DFO Dineshwor won Best Production Officer for valley area with 35,365 kg of fish, while Churachandpur DFO E Rameshwor Singh won for the hill area with 2940 kg of fish.

It may be noted that Na-tional Fish Farmer's Day is celebrated to commemorate the contribution of Professor Dr Hiralal Chaudhury and his colleague Dr KH Alikunhi in Indian fisheries sector who had guided the induced breed-ing and reproduction in Indian Major Carps by Hypophysa-tion technique, on this day in 1957, which eventually led to a revolution in Inland Aqua-culture.

The main objective of celebrating this day is to rec-ognise the contributions made by fish farmers, aquapreneurs (business people associated in aqua farming sector) and fishermen to the development of the nation's fisheries sector and to create an ecosystem to collectively think and discuss the ways to sustainably man-age our fisheries resources.

Fishery additional secretary Neeta Arambam, joint director Okram Jibanlata Devi, officials of the department, fish farm-ers, invitees and other concern stakeholders also attended the observance.

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