CIFRI Awards
With the increasing demand of the blue economy and to achieve the doubling of farmers' income, government is sponsoring training cum skill enhancement programs for the fishermen through various schemes like ATMA. In this regard, ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, Barrackpore organized an ATMA-sponsored 5-day training programme on “Inland Fisheries Management”
for the fish farmers of Pakur, Jharkhand from 18 – 22nd September, 2023. A total of 21 farmers including a group of 6 women and one fisheries instructor from Pakur district have participated in the training programme. Pakur district of centrally located Jharkhand State is covered with forest and with hilly terrains. According to the district portal, this district is blessed with two dams and numerous small waterbodies like ponds and tanks. This training was conducted to enhance farmers’ knowledge on scientific fish farming. The trainees were taught various aspects of fish farming such as pond construction and management, Natural fish food organisms in inland open waters, fish health management, fish feed preparation, composite fish culture, Ornamental fish culture etc. Besides, the trainees were given a demonstration cum practical orientation on the Ornamental fish culture, fish feed preparation, monitoring of some basic water quality and identification of some disease-causing fish pathogens during this training.
The trainees were also sensitized with some basic knowledge of reservoir fisheries management, enclosure culture and Pangus culture in the reservoir as Pakur district is also blessed with two. In addition, a field trip was organized as part of the training program to East Kolkata Wetland and ICAR-CIFE, Kolkata Research Centre. During the training program, the Institute’s director Dr. B. K. Das interacted with the farmers and encouraged them to develop their knowledge through the training. Dr. Das emphasized utilizing the underused water resources including backyard ponds through fisheries for livelihood improvement. The program has been oriented to strengthen the practical skills of the farmers for enhancing fish production in open waters including ponds & tanks, through on-field exposure visits and field demonstrations besides classroom sessions. About 86% of the the trainees expressed high level of satisfaction from the capacity building programme. 
