Anantnag, Jan 12: A batch of 25 farmers of Glacial Trout Fish FPO – J&Ks first Fisheries FPO sanctioned under NABARD – left for a 3-day residential training program to SKUAST (Fisheries Division). The farmers were flagged off from Dak Bungalow Anantnag by Additional Deputy Commissioner Anantnag, Mohammad Ashraf along with District Development Manager NABARD Rouf Zargar and Deputy Director Fisheries Sideeq Ahmad.
It has been sponsored by NABARD under its “Capacity Building for Adoption of Technology “program. The farmers belonging to the FPO will undergo extensive training along with field demonstrations at SKUAST’s fisheries division at Ganderbal. The visit has been facilitated by Human Welfare Foundation NGO.
Flagging off the visit, the ADC remarked that such tours will help the farmers to acquaint themselves with the best agricultural technologies and practices for better production. He said that Anantnag district has immense potential in the fisheries sector and the farmers through the FPO mode can use the latest techniques to move towards commercial production of fish to fetch good returns. He urged the farmers to use the visit as a learning experience for enhancing their knowledge about modern technologies in fish rearing.
DDM NABARD, Rouf Zargar informed that the training program would educate the FPO members with the latest technologies to adopt fish culture practices on modern lines so that they can enhance their livelihood out of their available resources. The farmers would be provided with technical demonstrations at different pond sites to educate them about the latest techniques of fish farming. He informed that the visiting farmers will also interact with the entrepreneurs, and visit the farms and demonstration units during the three-day exposure visit.
Deputy Director Fisheries Sideeq Ahmad said that keeping in view the importance accorded by the government to the fisheries sector, these visits will go a long way in imparting the economics of scientific cultivation and shifting the focus of fish cultivation from traditional to market-oriented. He said the fisheries department was committed to providing all required financial assistance to the FPOs by way of ODOP and the central sector PMMSY scheme.
