Tripura eyes self-reliance in animal feed production

Agartala: Besides setting a target to become self-reliant in fish, egg, meat and milk production in the next five years, the Tripura government announced its plan to embark on the mission to become self-reliant on animal feed, which will boost the agrarian economy and create more employment, said minister for animal resource development, and fisheries Sudhangshu Das here on Friday.He said the departments have initiated measures to increase the production of fish, meat, eggs and milk in the state and urged the officials to work on a mission mode with a positive mindset to achieve the target, as still Tripura is importing all those items from other states despite having all potential.The minister suggested engaging the farmers at the grassroots level and encouraging them to get involved in activities where they will get immediate financial benefits and promote entrepreneurship in animal husbandry in the long run.Das urged officials to explore utilising water bodies to enhance fish production and prioritize regular vaccination to prevent livestock diseases. As many as 7,713 fish farmers in North Tripura district received benefits under the Chief Minister’s Swanirbhar Parivar Yojana while seven self-help groups and cooperative societies got assistance for fish farming. The Tripura government has targeted to bring equilibrium in the demand and supply of fish in the state within the next few years cutting down the dependency on Bangladesh, Assam, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. Despite the creation of a huge number of water bodies and scaling up commercial fish production, Tripura is still short of the one-third requirement of the demand, he said.“The per capita demand for fish is 26 kg per annum but our domestic production lies at 18 kg. The production of fish, the raring of cows, vending of milk at the doorstep, and floriculture began in 2018 after the BJP-led government came to power. But still, Tripura is lagging behind in attaining self-sufficiency in food production,” Das said.According to officials, Tripura is producing 72,273 MT of fish against the annual demand of 96,454 MT and the state government has employed scientific intervention to increase fish production to meet the deficit of a total of 24,181 MT of fish which comes from outside. Tripura has the potential of cultivating fish seeds and production of fish food, innovation of technology, and creation of new species of fish. About Rs 700 crore is spent on importing fish, which the state government has targeted to plug by increasing domestic fish production.
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