UP govt prepares plan to promote fisheries for success of blue revolution

The Uttar Pradesh government has prepared a comprehensive plan to make Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for blue revolution a success in the state, Minister for Fisheries, Dairy and Animal Husbandry Laxmi Narayan Chaudhary said.

The department of fisheries has chalked out a plan for large-scale fish farming in the state from February, he said.

Fish farming would not only add to the income of farmers but also attract unemployed youth to the profession as one can easily earn about Rs 5 lakh in a year with only one hectare of land, the minister said.

"While it would turn unproductive land into money minting machine, the side business would become an asset for the farmer," Chaudhary said here.

A fishing experiment conducted on 'oosar land (infertile land)' hit by hard water and converted into a pond in Baad area of Mathura has been a grand success and may prove to be a turning point in increasing farmers' income, he said.

The encouraging part of the experiment conductedby director and deputy director of fisheries department was that it has been successful on'Jhinga' breed of fish, which is considered to be one of the best variety and has higher demand in Bangladesh, he said.

The same experiment will now be conducted on 100 acreinfertile land in Khayara village of Mathura on hard water ponds.

Elaborating the plan for increasing fish production in the state, the minister said that flood water would be utilised for fish farming.

Ponds dugon the bank of rivers in the state would automatically be filled with water during flood in the river, he said.

It would not only help in fish farming but also in increasing water level of wells in the area.

The government has also decided to develop a massive fishery farm in Lucknow in collaboration with a Japan-based firm.

To promote fisheries, the government is providing a subsidy of 60 per cent to women and those from scheduled castes, while others are getting a subsidy of 40 per cent, he added.

With this ambitious plan, the state expects to overcome fish shortage in the state which gets 26 tonnes of fish daily from other states, he said.

The state government has also decided to enhance production of eggs to at least 22.5 million eggs per day by encouraging farmers and unemployed youth to join the profession.

The state's current egg consumption stands at over 22 million per day against a production of about 16 million eggs per day.

The farmers will be given training on poultry and fisheries and given example of Azamgarh which produces 5 lakh eggs daily, Chaudhary said.