Bridging Knowledge and Practice: CIFRI’s Capacity Building for Fishers.

Khagaria, which is the administrative headquarter of the Khagaria District in Bihar, along with diversified gifts from the mother nature, possesses substantial fisheries resources, largely because of the network of rivers, ponds, and wetlands. Aquaculture employs several ponds and wetlands in the district, thereby enhancing fish productivity and supporting aquaculture endeavours.

Envisaging the rich bio-diversity & enhancing knowledge and skills, ICAR-CIFRI, Barrackpore, recently accomplished a seven-day training programme on inland fisheries management for the fish farmers of that region within the ICAR – CIFRI Barrackpore Campus. This capacity-building programme sought to augment the knowledge and abilities of fish farmers in scientific aquaculture practices, sustainable resource management, and contemporary aquaculture techniques.

The training event was attended by 30 active fish farmers and one official from the state fishery department. The objective of this training program was to close the gaps in attitudes, skills, and knowledge between inland fishery authorities and farmers. For the course work, there were lectures on a wide range of topics, such as building and maintaining ponds, managing water quality, nursery and rearing ponds management, composite fish farming, induced breeding, transporting live fish seeds, ornamental fisheries, enclosure culture, disease management, zero-budget natural farming, inland fisheries and climate change, evaluating the economics of fisheries businesses, and demonstration of CIFRI’s products followed by field exposure.

Again, a “Hands-on training on ornamental fish culture for entrepreneurship development” was conducted simultaneously, by ICAR-CIFRI in the same campus with the aim of improving the skill & knowledge of ornamental fish for the women farmer of Balagarh, West Bengal.