Union Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Secretary Jatindra Nath Swain visited the ICAR-Central
Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture, Bhubaneswar on Sunday. Deputy Director General (Fisheries science), Indian Council of Agricultural Dr JK Jena and Director, ICAR-CIFA Dr Saroj Kumar Swain welcomed him on his first visit to the institute and took him around the facilities, hatcheries, aquarium, feed mill and KVK etc. Dr Swain gave him an overview of various ongoing research activities at the institute and also a bouquet of farmer friendly technologies developed at the institute. The Secretary visited various units e.g., tilapia, genetically improved rohu, prawn, air breathing fish, ornamental fish and hydroponics etc.
Dr Jena gave an overview of the present status of freshwater aquaculture and challenges being encountered by the sector. The Secretary appreciated the research work and stressed on developing innovative and efficient technology options for the farming community.
In the afternoon, Swain had an interaction with the scientists at the institute. He urged the researchers to focus on farm input cost reduction, market creation for fish and fishery products and development of responsive extension system to disseminate the developed technologies to the farmers and other end users.
The Government of India has set a target of producing 22 million tonnes of fish by the year 2025 and a target of export earning of Rs 1 lakh crore. Transformative changes are required to be in place to realise the above goals and researchers could play a key role in it, he said.