Kashmir trains its farmers in pisciculture

The Government in Jammu and Kashmir has organised a special camp at the Pandhach fish farm on the outskirts of Srinagar to train farmers to give a boost to fishing in the private sector.

A large number of farmers present there interacted with experts from the fisheries department and shared their views on the promotion of pisciculture in the valley.

"The aim (of the camp) is to develop the fish sector. They are showing us techniques for fish breeding and thereby put into practice," said Manzoor Ahmed, a farmer.

The sector has been strengthening its grip in the state as more and more people are looking towards it as a form of employment and thereby adopt fish culture as a means of livelihood.

Having this as livelihood comes with added advantage of the government extending financial assistance to farmers and incentives like nets, feed and other equipment.

Director of the fisheries department of Jammu and Kashmir, R K Dogra, said: "Basically, it is an interaction between the experts already doing fishing, (between) old fish farmers and the new farmers. We tell them (but) as you know, seeing is believing. The farmers may not be convinced by what we teach, but when the old farmers who are already in the business tell them about these methods in their local language and by local methods,then they are ready to learn and are convinced."

During the training camp, fisheries experts also demonstrated some techniques regarding netting in fish ponds to the farmers. For the appreciation of farmers, the government also distributed some prize cheques among those farmers who had shown good performance in terms of fish production.

By October 2013, fish production had reached a record 19.95 thousand metric tones in the state through various other projects introduced by the fisheries department of Jammu and Kashmir.

The state made a breakthrough in trout production by the launch of the village Trout Farming Project.