With the requirement of fish in Nagaland on the rise over the past few years, it was informed that fish production in the state currently stands at 8605 metric tonnes (MT) from 3298 hectares of ponds. It was further informed that the department of Fisheries envisage increasing fish production to 22,000 MT by 2020.

Speaking during a training program about preparing farm-made feed with locally available ingredients for fish production, Kevisa Kense, director of Fisheries opined that ‘with the banning of creation of new water bodies, farmers need to emphasize on utilizing available resources to the fullest to achieve the set targets.’

With fish feed becoming more expensive, Kense called it important for fish farmers to have technical knowledge about preparing feed from locally available ingredients for more ‘economically viable feed.’

Also, the official said that successful aquaculture requires a lot of inputs. Kense called for integrated research and development, and technological knowledge to increase productivity and income of the fishing community.

Resource persons for the training program were Dr. PP Chakrabarti, chairman, NEH Development; and Dr. BN Paul, state coordinator for Nagaland.

Dr. Chakrabarti said it was important for the farmers to learn how to prepare feed by themselves with locally available ingredients to increase productivity. He observed that the main problem fishermen in the Northeast face relate to the increase in the cost of feed, unavailability of feeds; lack of proper outlets and issues with quality.

Source: Eastern Mirror // Original Article