The Department of Fisheries, Government of Manipur in collaboration with the National Fisheries Development Board, Hyderabad under the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Government of India have jointly conducted an Outreach Campaign for fish farmers and fishers of Manipur today at the office complex of the Directorate of Fisheries, Manipur at Lamphelpat. The outreach campaign is organised to disseminate various welfare schemes of the Department of Fisheries, Government of India to the fish farmers. About 80 fish farmers and fishers from different districts of Manipur including 4 FFPOs, 3 primary fishery co-operative societies, 5 entrepreneurs and 5 progressive women farmers and officials of State Fisheries Department have participated in the programme.   

Speaking on the outreach programme, Heisnam Balkrisna Singh, Director of Fisheries, Manipur said that there is a strong need for bridging the gap between the demand and supply of fish in Manipur to reduce the import of fish from outside the state and expenditure in terms of crores of rupees. He added that in order to achieve sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, the fish farmers and fishers of the state should strive to avail themselves of all the schemes being implemented by the Ministry of Fisheries, Government of India.

A.K. Borah, Senior Executive & O&C, NFDB NERC, Guwahati briefed the gathering about the recent initiatives and efforts of the Department of Fisheries, Government of India for the enhancement of sustainable fish production and fisheries infrastructure and appealed to the farmers to reap all the benefits timely and disseminate the scheme to grass root level. Dr. H. D. Joshi, Scientist, Fishery Survey of India, Mumbai also attended the programme and highlighted the importance of outreach programmes for enlightening and educating the fish farmers about the fisheries schemes. Angom Tiken Singh, a prominent fish farmer representing a local primary fisheries co-operative society expressed his profound gratitude to the organisers for conducting a practical and meaningful outreach programme in the larger interest of fish farmers of Manipur.

In the technical session, Dr. Nandkishor Ingole, Monitoring and Evaluation Expert, NFDB, Hyderabad has presented a lecture on various schemes in fisheries such as PMMSY, PM-MKSSY, FIDF, Entrepreneur Model scheme, Aquaculture Crop Insurance, NFDP Registration of fishers, GAIS, KCC, etc. Later, Dr. Suresh Chandra Kabdwal, Principal Scientist, ICAR-Directorate of Coldwater Fisheries Research, Bhimtal delivered on the prospects of Coldwater Fisheries in the hill districts of Manipur for livelihood generation of tribal farmers. Lastly, Gaihiamngam Kamei, Scientist, ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, Visakhapatnam gave a lecture on the prospect of fish processing and value addition in Manipur for entrepreneurship development.

Laishram Jayarani, Additional Director of Fisheries, Manipur delivered a vote of thanks and appreciated the initiative of the Secretary, Department of Fisheries, Government of India for organising the outreach campaign by deputing experts from various fisheries institutes.  

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