The event was attended by more than 300 people, including fish farmers, farmwomen, researchers, students and the general public, participated in the programme. Farmers were shown the various facilities of the institute, including the fish farm, the hatcheries, the feed mill, the aquarium, and the agricultural technology information centre.
It is fact that India is the third largest fish producing country in the world, with an annual total production of 7.13 million tonnes of fish. Fishing sector fetches foreign currency worth Rs 8,000 crores. Dr AE Eknath, Director of the CIFA, has presented an overview of the institute’s technologies pertaining to carp, prawn, ornamental fish, magur and different products developed from them.
In that presentation Dr Eknath laid an emphasis on out reach activities, so that the fruits of research can be made accessible to the farming community. Mrs Usha Padhi, IAS, director of the Mission Shakti, and chief guest at the function, told that women fish farmers are also active in fisheries. She informed that women self help groups (SHGs) are being given priority when leasing out water bodies.
Mission Shakti, the nodal agency for the social and economic empowerment of women, has created a massive social capital of 3,80,000 SHGs, with over 45,00,000 members.
Whilst traditional enterprises like plate making, candle making and papad making often face marketing problems, fish is in high demand, and does not face these difficulties.
She urged that women SHGs be trained in different aspects of aquaculture, including value addition and processing. She asked the researchers to focus not only on raising productivity, but also on making farming more profitable.
