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CMFRI teams up with Korampadam Co-op Bank to promote cage fish farming
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Saturday, 02 March, 2019, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Our Bureau, New Delhi
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In a major effort which is beneficial to hundreds of families in Kadamakkudy panchayat, the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) has partnered with the Korampadam Service Co-operative Bank, Kothad, to promote cage fish farming in the backwaters of the panchayat.
In a joint initiative aimed at helping the villagers become small-scale entrepreneurs through cage fish farming, CMFRI and the bank conducted a skill development programme to train them in practicing the less-expensive farming method.
As many as 114 villagers attended the training that covered various stages of cage fish farming, such as cage fabrication, site identification, species selection, feed management, harvest and marketing. Visits to cage farming sites and practical training were also included in the three-day programme.
In a further step to promote the cage farming enterprises in the backwaters of the panchayat, CMFRI will offer all the technical guidance to the villagers, while the bank will give them loans as initial capital to carry out cage fish farming.
“CMFRI would extend technical support to the farmers in each phase of the cage farming process to empower them to become entrepreneurs in the field,” said A Gopalakrishnan, the institute’s director, adding, “This will act as a source for additional income to the fishermen, and it will help increase the domestic fish production as well.”
Species such as cobia, seabass, snappers, mullet and pearl spot will be used for cage farming.
The collaborative programme has been linked with CMFRI’s ongoing project, which was launched last year and aims to train 5,000 fishermen across the country in practicing cage fish farming with the financial assistance of the National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB).
“The CMFRI has so far trained 2,500 fishermen all over the country, and about 2,500 cage fish farming units are currently operational across the coastal states under CMFRI’s technical guidance,” said Dr Imelda Joseph, head, mariculture division, CMFRI.
CMFRI is also part of a joint initiative with NFDB to set up 500 cage fish farming units in Kerala by providing technical as well as financial aids to the fish farmers.
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