SHILLONG: The Fisheries Department on Tuesday launched the second edition of the hyped Meghalaya State Aqua-culture Mission – MSAM 2.0 – that is set to be implemented over the next five years from April 1, 2019.
Announcing the launch of the MSAM 2.0, Agricultural Production Commissioner KN Kumar spoke on the highs and lows of MSAM 1.0 and highlighted the MSAM 2.0 vision of making the state self-sufficient in fish production in five years.
Kumar admitted that MSAM 1.0 failed short of fulfilling its objective, and said that the department needed more time to achieve the target production of 27,000 MT of fish to become self-sufficient.
He, however, asserted that MSAM 2.0 will be implemented with much more precision and sophistication. Listing the objectives fulfilled under MSAM 1.0, Kumar said 14 small scale hatcheries, 12 eco hatcheries and three fish feed mills were developed that led to increase in fish feed production from 3.2 million in 2012 to 9.9 million in 2017-18.
“All the fish feed mills are functional and now we require more hatcheries and more feed mills because the demand for fish seed and fish feed is increasing manifold,” Kumar said.
The department created 19,011 new fishery beneficiaries in the state and succeeded in bringing about 1900 hectares of water area under fish production under MSAM 1.0 with a total investment of Rs 157 crore out of which government subsidy was Rs 111 crore while the remaining loan component of Rs 46 loan was provided by the Cooperative Apex Bank and the State Bank of India.
“All pending work will be completed by March 31, 2019 to avoid any spill over into the next mission,” Kumar said.
MSAM 1.0 was successful in increasing the fish production from 4,799 MT in 2012 to 11,961 MT in 2017-18.
“The production increased by 7162 MT following the implementation of the MSAM 1.0. We expect the production to further increase by about 2000 MT by the end of 2018-19,” he added.
The department is preparing to convert an additional area of 1500 hectares into fisheries and increase the number of hatcheries and feed mills at an investment of Rs 378 crore under MSAM 2.0.
The fund will be sourced from the central government, state plan and external aid.
Detailing the fund problems faced with MSAM 1.0 implementation, Kumar said the Fisheries department has emerged as major player in the state despite the limited funding support to the department since its inception.
Fisheries Minister Comingone Ymbon, who also attended the programme, urged the fish farmers to work hard for the benefit of the state and the country as a whole.
