IFDS to increase fish production

 ​Warangal Rural: Inland fishery development activities by the State government are yielding good results benefiting the fishermen with fish production becoming more than double in last couple of years in the district.

Fish production which was 3500 tonnes before 2015 has now reached 8150 tonnes annually which augurs well for the State’s objective of achieving 30 per cent growth in fish production by reaching 3.5 lakh tonne in 2018-19 in the State.

In 2015-16, the production was 5200 tonnes with 95.58 lakh fish seedlings and in 2016-17 it reached 8150 tonnes with 1.42 crore fish seedlings. The growth in the production is made possible after introduction of 100 per cent grant for fish seed distribution, said the District Fisheries Officer P Naresh Kumar Naidu on Wednesday.   

This year it is planned to release nearly 2.72 crore fish seedlings into 700 water bodies spread across the district. In the past the seedlings released only in irrigation tanks with more than 100 acres of extent, now it is decided to release the seedlings into small tanks in gram panchayats as well, he told The Hans India.

The Integrated Fisheries Development Scheme (IFDS) being implemented with an outlay of Rs 1,000 crore will further boost the fish production. An amount of Rs 21.65 crore has been released to the district and it will benefit nearly 15,784 members in 183 fishermen’s cooperative societies, he explained.  

Of the Rs 21.65 crore, Rs 6.96 crores will be spent on fish seed production, Rs 9.94 crore for marketing and Rs 2.10 crore for harvesting. Activities like offering mobile fish retail outlets, vending units on mopeds and autos, creation of modern fish markets, fish transport vehicles and insulated trucks on subsidy will be taken up.

In addition to that imbibing cage culture, pond culture and re-circulatory aquaculture system, setting up fish processing units, hatcheries, harvesting units, infrastructure and skills development, marketing support, expose fishermen to new technologies and others will be taken up, he added.

Naidu informed that there are 36 women cooperative societies and a special focus is being made on encouraging women actively engage in fish production. An amount Rs 60 lakh will be spent towards marketing support to women societies.

Registered members of fishermen cooperative societies can submit their applications online to benefit under the IFDS by May 3. The district selection committee will select eligible beneficiaries from May 25 to June 15.

The District Collector M Haritha appealed fishermen in the district to make best use of the scheme saying ‘It is a great value addition to fishermen, to increase fish production and earn extra money. 

Several programmes conducted to educate fishermen’ Utmost transparency will be maintained in selecting beneficiaries, she added.