Bhubaneswar: An awareness programme on scientific aquaculture in backyard ponds was jointly organized by ICAR-CIFA and ANANYA, Bhubaneswar under the SCSP scheme of the institute. Around 70 farmers and farm women from different districts of Odisha attended the awareness programme.
Hon’ble MP (Loksabha) Shri Pratap Chandra Sarangi graced the occasion as Chief Guest and inaugurated the programme. He appreciated the efforts of ICAR-CIFA in empowering the downtrodden people. Presence of large number of women in the programme is indicative of their growing interest in establishing micro-enterprise in fisheries. He advised the farmers to learn and adopt newer avenues like ornamental fish farming,value addition etc.
Dr. P. C. Mohanty, Chairman, Odisha Krushak Samaj in his address urged the participating farmers to adopt improved technologies of fish farming. With the collective efforts of farmers, Krishi Vigyan Kendras, state departments and other civil society organizations, Odisha could become a net exporter of freshwater fish. He also stressed forming fish farmer producer organizations to overcome the challenges of small-scale farmers.
Shri S. K. Panigrahi, Executive Secretary, ANANYA thanked ICAR-CIFA for providing an opportunity to the economically weaker section of the society to learn about aquaculture. He added that in distant parts of Odisha farmers are not having adequate access to technology and skill training. He wished that more and more farmers are made aware of scientific aquaculture technologies and as a consequence, their income level rises.
Earlier Dr. S. K. Swain, Director, ICAR-CIFA welcomed the delegates and gave a brief overview of the activities of the institute for strengthening the livelihood of the SC community. He added that the scheme is aimed at providing direct benefit to the members of the community in terms of technology, skill training, input support, etc. Currently, the institute is implementing this work in 8 states viz. Punjab, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Odisha, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telengana and Andhra Pradesh involve as many as 2000 beneficiaries.
Dr. H. K. De, Chairman, SCSP, ICAR-CIFA addressed the gathering and gave a brief overview of the one-day awareness programme. The programme was coordinated by Dr. C. K. Misra, Mr. D. P. Rath, Mr. S. K. Mohanty.
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