L. Khumo Khiamniungan, Advisor for Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Economic & Statistic and Evaluation, and Member of Nagaland Legislative Assembly, inaugurated the first ever ice plant-cum-cold storage at Brooder Fish Farm, Half Nagarjan, Nagaland. The project “ice plant-cum-cold storage” was funded under negotiated loan from National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) during 2020-21 at a cost of Rs.146.85 lakh as NABARD share and the state share of 5%, which is still awaited. Speaking at the programme, Khumo, stated that the department had been facing numerous problems due to non-availability of the ice plant-cum-cold storage. However, with the inaugural of the facility, Khumo said the fisheries department would now be able to move forward and help fish farmers in acquiring livelihood.
Acknowledging NABARD for funding the project, advisor said that the project would help the educated unemployed youth in gaining interest in fish farming and also change the mindset of Naga youth to have self-sustainability. Further, Khumo urged the department to continue to work for the benefit of all. He said that the recently inaugurated facility would be a waste of money if it was not utilised for the purpose.
Advisor also encouraged department staff to make their presence felt by working for the betterment and uplift of the department. Meanwhile, NABARD Nagaland regional office Dimapur general manager, Tiakala Ao, spoke on the importance development of fishery sector in the state.
She pointed out that around 70% of state’s population was still dependent on agriculture as main source of income. She, however, lamented that the type of agriculture practiced in the state was not sufficient for them to generate any surplus income for themselves.
Tiakala maintained that there were ways where farmers could improve their economic conditions if they diversified into other activities. He stated that if farmers were to adopt integrated farming system, one would have crop culture along with livestock farming and fishery activates. She said that the system doubles farmer income and also generate surplus produce. Stating that fish farming was one the most promising activities that could be developed in the state, GM said that the state produces around 9400 Metric Tonnes (MT) of fish, of which 7000 MT comes from domestic production, while 8000 MT were imported.
Tiakala said the state should try to produce more so all domestic needs could be achieved internally instead of depending on imports. She lamented so far the state could only developed only 10% of the fishery potential area, adding that the state still has 90% of potential area that could be exploited for the development of fisheries. She maintained that the scope for fish farming in the state was endless. She also stated that the department needed to provide sufficient training in order to increase fish production.
