The e-extension programme of empowering fishermen of Odisha through mobile advisory services has scaled new heights.
Fisheries and Animal Resources Development Secretary Bishnupada Sethi reviewed the programme meant for active fishermen engaged in sea, river and reservoir and active fish farmers and entrepreneurs having a farm area of minimum 1 acre area.
The IFFCO Kisan Sanchar limited (IKSl), which has the expertise in mobile dissemination services, has been successfully implementing the programme.
At least two lakh SIM cards have been distributed among the enrolled fishermen, who are reaping the benefits of latest information on potential fishing zones, weather alert and warning, ocean status forecast, fish market price, fishery resources conservation, value addition and Government schemes.
The IKSl has created a dedicated number (534351) to provide helpline facility to clarify doubts on the contents of voice messages. The helpline is being used to contact specialists, and phone-in programmes are also organised for the benefit of fishers.
Subject matter specialists from the Directorate of Fisheries, CIFA, OUAT, FISHCOFED and IKSl are roped in to provide expert advice to the fishers.
From the listening performance, it came to fore that more than two lakh fishermen have been covered during last two years, who received 6.62 crores of voice message calls covering 73.9 lakh hours.
Analysis shows that there are 1,26,486 inland fishers, 60,595 marine fishers including Telugus and 13,473 Chilika fishers.