OdishaPlus Bureau
Exhorting officials of Odisha State Fishermen Co-operative Federation (FISHFED) to follow the 5-T (Teamwork, Transparency, Technology, Transformation and Time) formula of the Chief Minister for socio-economic development of Odisha, State Agriculture, Fisheries & Animal Resources Development Minister Arun Sahoo has said that efforts should be made to make FISHFED a popular and household name in the State through various initiatives.
Speaking at a felicitation ceremony at FISHFED headquarters here today, Minister Sahoo called upon all to make Odisha a self-sufficient and leading state by strengthening the primary cooperative societies in the State, increasing fish export from Rs 3500 crore at present to Rs 20,000 crore, encouraging women self help groups to take up pisciculture in gram panchayat ponds and emphasizing on fish farming in ponds developed under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Act (MGNREGS).
Citing the success stories of Chhattisgarh and Telangana, where pisciculture is adopted successfully even in absence of sea beaches, Sahoo urged the officials to follow their path for furtherance of pisciculture in Odisha.
Stating that primary cooperative societies are the cornerstone of development, Fisheries & Animal Resources Development Department Secretary Vishal Gagan said there are only 732 primary cooperative societies functioning in Odisha whereas in our neighbouring state Telengana, which does not have a coast, there are about 5,000 primary cooperative societies. He urged the officials to increase the number of fisheries cooperative societies in the State from 1,200 at present and work on reactivating all these societies.
Fisheries Director Ratnakar Rout spoke on initiatives to increase fish production in the State and economic development of fishermen and fish farmers. Presenting a comparative statement on the present and past performance of FISHFED, President of FISHFED and FISHCOPFED, T Prasad Rao Dora spoke on the initiatives taken by FISHFED at present and its future plan of action.