CIFRI Awards
Madhepura fishers are rich in fishery resources but they do lack of initiatives as well as poor knowledge so far as fishery resource utilisation is concerned resulting in low production of fish. In this backdrop, a 7-days training program for fish farmers Madhepura, Bihar was concluded at ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, Barrackpore from 04-10 April, 2023. Under this Govt. initiative, the farmers were trained on “Inland Fisheries management” and acquainted with scientific fisheries production processes besides developing capacity to boost their moral as well as optimization of their resource utilisation. A total of 30 farmers were undergone for this week-long training program. During the inaugural session, Dr. B. K. Das, Director of the Institute invoked the farmers to come forward in gaining scientific updated knowledge and develop skills on inland fisheries management which would help them to generate employment and livelihood security. He also emphasized on the need of proper utilization of the vast inland fisheries resources available to the fish farmers of Madhepura. Dr. Das also briefed the trainees about the new entrepreneurship avenues available in inland fisheries of India.
Livelihood improvement through development of inland fisheries in this district is enormous. This training programme has been aimed at bridging the knowledge, skill, and attitude gaps of the farmers towards inland fisheries management and development. The program included in-house classroom sessions on pond construction and management, soil and water chemistry, induced breeding, nursery, rearing and brooder’s pond management, composite fish farming, ornamental fishery, enclosure culture, fish feed management and feeding protocol, disease management, enterpreneurship and marketing and, economic valuation, overview on Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojona and its implications etc. Besides, the farmers have been exposed to ICAR-CIFRI products, documentaries on CIFRI technologies, re-circulatory Aquaculture System (RAS), Bio-floc units, ornamental hatchery units and feed mill of the Institute. The farmers have been provided hands-on training on water quality assessment, fish feed preparation, natural fish food organism. Exposing to field visits included: ICAR-CIFA Kalyani fish farms, progressive Fisher’s hatchery at Kalna, East Burdwan, East Kolkata Wetlands (EKW), ornamental fish markets, etc.
