PHULBANI: THERE is ample scope for fish culture in the district, but the project is unable to gather momentum due to shortage of staff. With fishery extension officer and fishery inspector posts in all the blocks of the district lying vacant, creating awareness among the rural people has become an issue. No steps have been taken to appoint temporary staff to carry out pisciculture.
If this is not enough, the districtlevel committee under the chairmanship of Collector, assigned the task of preparing annual plans, has not convened a meeting in the last three years. This has hampered the identification of farmers interested in taking up pisciculture and also the prerequisite training for the existing farmers.
There is immense scope for pisciculture with tanks and ponds besides some minor irrigation projects and water harvesting projects dotting Khajuripada, Chakapad, Balliguda, Phringia and Phulbani blocks.
According to departmental sources, there are 531 panchayat tanks covering 275 hectares and 427 private tanks measuring 66 hectares besides the 120 hectares of Pilla Salunki Medium Irrigation Project available in the district for rearing and breeding of fish.
The Pilla Salunki MIP is ideal for pisiculture with the availability of water across the year. The MIP was handed over to the National Fish Development Board in 2009. Every year fish seeds are being provided to the farmers of the two districts from two farms at Tendrigaon and
Sirtiguda.
The Fish Farmers Development Authority (FFDA) too is functioning in the district. In the last six years, as many as 90 farmers have availed of the incentives and discounts being provided by FFDA.
Meanwhile, the administration has decided to prepare 600 farm ponds by utilising ` 9 core under MGNREGS. Money has been sanctioned for 392 ponds and digging of 125 ponds has already begun.
According to Assistant Director of Fisheries Chittaranjan Patra, absence of manpower is affecting the digging work being undertaken under MGNREGS. Identification of farmers, training, extending loans, breeding of fish and above all supervision of the digging of ponds in all the 12 block are being stagemanaged by two fisheries extension officers (FEO) and four inspectors, he added.