College of Fisheries, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) started a series of on-farm meets to mark National Fish Farmers Day (NFFD) in the month of July. The NFFD is celebrated to commemorate the historic event of successful induced breeding of fish in India by Dr. Hiralal Chaudhury and Dr. Kolliyil Hameed Alikunhi on 10th of July in 1957. The said meets are being organised under various programs/projects including ICAR- National Campaign on “Emerging Aquaculture Systems and Practices” and Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) projects, in collaboration with University Institutional Development Plan (IDP) of ICAR-National Agriculture Higher Education Project (NAHEP).
The NFFD celebrations flagged off with on-farm meets at the fish farm of S. Sukhpal Singh, Village Badbar, Barnala and shrimp farm of S. Dilbagh Singh, S. Navdeep Singh and S. Davinder Singh in village Fakharsar Theri, Sri Muktsar Sahib. About 100 stakeholders, including 66 fish/shrimp farmers and 44 aspiring entrepreneurs, fisheries students/professionals and officers from Department of Fisheries, Punjab attended the event. The meets were co-ordinated by Dr. Vaneet Inder Kaur, Principal Scientist and conducted by scientists Dr. Abhishek Srivastava and Mr. Khushvir Singh in Barnala and Dr. Prabjeet Singh and Dr. Sarabjeet Kaur.
Such meets offer an effective on-farm interactive platform to various stakeh
olders, including academia, farmers, aspiring entrepreneurs and industry, so as to promote the sector in a more concerted manner, said Dr. Meera D. Ansal, Dean of College of Fisheries. The major focus was to promote ‘Best Management Practice’ among fish/shrimp farmers for long term sustainability and encourage entrepreneurial aptitude among fisheries professional and rural youth for self-reliance, she added.
Dr. J. P. S. Gill, Director of Research informed that the university is promoting replication of potential aquaculture technologies through various R&D activities under RKVY projects, to enhance farmers income and profitability. Highlighting the necessity of strengthening linkages among the academia, farmers and industry to develop feedback based regionally important technologies, Dr. Inderjeet Singh, Vice-Chancellor, GADVASU, conveyed that such on-farm activities are mandated by the university to outreach maximum number of beneficiaries for capacity building and technology updates.
