East Kolkata Wetlands farmers set to elevate fish production with state's fisheries department training

KOLKATA: In a bid to raise the quality of fish production, the state fisheries department is planning to train the farmers of East Kolkata Wetlands (EKW) in scientific farming of shrimps and other species.

EKW has 245 shallow fish ponds that produce 2.4 lakh quintals of fish daily, according to govt officials.

Biplab Roy Chowdhury, minister of state for fisheries, said the government is taking a slew of measures to increase fish production in the state.

The state produced 20.5 lakh tonnes of fish and 27 billion fish seeds during 2022-23. The state has exported nearly 1.2 lakh tonnes of frozen shrimp and other fish, worth Rs 5,000 crore, in the last fiscal.

Biplab Roy Chowdhury, minister of state for fisheries, said, “We have already started training local youths in 21 districts in scientific fish production. For scientific fish production, our department has identified a total of 12,749 waterbodies in the state, of which 2,572 water bodies belong to the government. This includes the bheris in EKW where we are exploring the possibilities of modern fish farming.”

Meanwhile, the state animal resources development department is seeking cooperation of private poultry players to fill up the deficit in egg production across Bengal.

Speaking at Merchant Chamber of Commerce & Industry’s animal husbandry and fisheries conclave held in the city, Swapan Debnath, minister of this department said, “The demand for eggs has gone up in our state, more because of midday meals and Integrated Child development Services (ICDS) centres. Now the state requires 1,440 crore eggs annually while the annual production is around 1,372 crore. We have to bring around 68 crore eggs from other states every year. If private poultry firm owners invest more for expansion of their units, we will be able to fill up the demand-supply gap by December this year.”

At present, Bengal is the fourth largest egg producing state in the country, Madan Mohan Maity, general secretary of West Bengal Poultry Federation said an investment to the tune of Rs 15,000 crore is needed for modernization of poultry farming in the state.