1100 fish farmers to benefit from training

More than 1100 fish farmers in Meghalaya who were trained at the National Institute Rural Development (NIRD) are set to derive profit from the Meghalaya State Aquaculture Mission (MSAM), a state flagship program aimed at improving fish production in the state, officials said today.

"More than 1100 fish farmers were sent for training at the NIRD. They would be partners of the fisheries department in its mission to promote fish farming in the state," Principal Secretary of Fisheries department K N Kumar said while launching of the mission website here.

According to the official, fish production is set at 20,000 MT in the next five years using the special mission.

Emphasising on a fast track mode to bridge the gap of demand and supply of fish in the state, Kumar said the mission will enable the state to be "self-sufficient" as well as exploit the possibility of exporting fish to other nearby north-eastern states.

The fish mission which was launched last year has drawn in lot of responses from the state out of which, only 40,000 applications have been inspected, Kumar said.

Under the 'Area Expansion' one of the nine mini missions of the MSAM, Kumar said 26,557 spots have been inspected by the department and of which 8250 of them were found to be feasible.