CIFRI Awards
Katihar district is located in the plains of Northeastern part of Bihar State and was historically a part of the Mithila region. The district has rich aquatic resources in the form of ponds and tanks, mauns (floodplain wetlands) and derelict water bodies that can provide avenues for basic livelihood options through scientific interventions. In view of this, ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, Barrackpore, organized a 7-days comprehensive training programme on Inland Fisheries Management for fish farmers of Katihar District, Bihar from 5-11 March 2024 at Barrackpore.
The aim of the training programme was to educate fish farmers about the principles and practices on fish culture and proved to be instrumental in equipping fish farmers with the necessary knowledge and skills to effectively manage inland fisheries resources. A total of 30 fish farmers took part in the training programme. In the inaugural session, Dr. B. K. Das, Director, ICAR-CIFRI addressed the participants and encouraged them to acuire knowledge about fish farming through residential training. Dr. Das also urged farmers to utilize their underutilized water resources, including backyard ponds and derelict water bodied in a scientific manner that provides sufficient scope for improving their livelihoods. During the training, the farmers were trained on various aspects of inland fisheries management such as pond construction and management, induced breeding and hatchery management, composite fish culture including fish disease management, brood stock management, integrated fish farming, fish feed management and ornamental fish farming including the economic evaluation of fisheries enterprises. Further, field exposure visits were conducted to East Kolkata Wetland and ornamental fish market, Kolkata, ICAR-CIFA field station, Kalyani and a visit to Halisahar fish farm, Kolkata.
In the laboratory, there were practical training sessions on field water quality parameters, fish feed preparation and management including visits to the Ornamental fish culture unit and biofloc functional unit at the CIFRI,HQ. In the valedictory session, the farmers expressed their great satisfaction with this training programme and expressed their views with admitting their upscaling of knowledge which would help immensely in utilizing resources in a scientific manner. Dr. Srikanta Samanta, HOD, FRAI, Dr. S. K. Manna, HOD, REF and Dr. R. K. Manna, HOD, RWF attended in the valedictory session and shared their views with the farmers. The training programme was organized under the guidance of Dr. B. K. Das, Director, ICAR-CIFRI and coordinated by Dr. Aparna Roy, I/C T & E Cell and Mr. Pranab Gogoi with the technical assistance of Mr. Sujit Chowdhury, Dr. Avisekh Saha, Mr. Loknath Chakraborty and Mr. Manabendra Roy. The lesson learned during the training programme intended to inspire and guide fish farmers to effectively manage their resources to achieve optimal production and productivity.
