Haryana to seek Japan's aid for Rs 73 cr fish project

The Haryana Government has submitted a Rs 73-crore project to the Centre for seeking Japan's aid for the development of fisheries in the state.

The Haryana Fisheries Minister Harmohinder Singh Chatha said this after releasing a video documentary on the benefits of fish culture entitled, "Machhali Paalan - Rojgaar Ka Uttam Sadhan" in Haryanavi dialect.

Chatha said Haryana made a landmark progress in fisheries since the time of its creation. The government had established 18 Fish Farmers Development Agencies at the district level for providing technical and financial assistance to the farmers. There were 10,000 village ponds in Haryana, of which 80 per cent had been covered under fish culture, he added.

Chatha said the village panchayats were earning an annual income of about Rs 4 crore from leasing the village ponds.

In addition to this, the private farmers had also constructed 2,000 ponds in their own land. The total fish production from the ponds was 46,000 tonnes per year with the productivity of 4,576 kgs per hectare. Haryana ranked second in the per hectare production of fish in the country, he added.

The minister said the Haryana government had launched various programmes for utilisation of water logged and saline-effected areas for fish culture. A proposal of Rs 1.65 crore had been submitted to the National Fisheries Development Board, Hyderabad, for providing assistance to the department.

He said fish production had increased from 600 tonnes in 1966 to 48,200 tonnes in 2005-06. A target had been fixed to produce 55,000 tonnes fish during 2006-07 and one lakh tonnes per year by the end of the 11th Five Year Plan in 2011-12.

Giving information about the sale and marketing of the fish produce, he said there were three fish markets at Faridabad, Panipat and Yamunanagar for the assistance of the farmers. Various other facilities such as transportation were also being provided in these markets. It had also been targeted to construct two new fish markets at Bahadurgarh in Jhajjar and Gurgaon, he said.

Chatha said the government was providing various types of basic training in fish farming and fish seed production at the district level. An Agriculture Research and Training Institute had also been established with the help of World Bank at Hisar. Over 2,000 persons were being provided in-service training and refresher courses every year at this centre, he added.

The minister said the government had also set up 20 Fish Health Care Centres, one at each district, 14 Aquatic Poly Clinics at Government Fish Seed Farms and one State Level Diagnostic Lab at Hisar to help the farmers for treatment of fish diseases and fish health care.

Besides this, Rs 80,000 per unit with 20 per cent subsidy is being provided for integration of fisheries with agriculture and allied activities.