CIFA completes 22 yrs, contributes to 57 % of fish production in country.

The Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (CIFA),Bhubaneswar on Tuesday observed its 22nd annual day. Formed in 1987, the institute was born as a constituent of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) under the Union Ministry of Agriculture.During the last two decades, the institute has developed several epoch-making technologies in the freshwater aquaculture sector. The technologies provided by the institute have led to a rise in inland fish production, which constitutes over 57 per cent of the total fish being produced in the country. Total fish production of the country reached 6.9 million tones in 2006-07 with contribution of 2.7 million tones from freshwater aquaculture alone, informed CIFA director N Sarangi. Some of the other achievements of CIFA include off-season breeding of rohu and catla, increase in quality fish seed production by 214 per cent, cloning and characterization of GtRH and GnRH of rohu to name a few.
Furthermore, it has also provided training to over 3,000 farmers and entrepreneurs, including foreign nationals from Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. According to In-charge of Media and Comminication HK De, CIFA is promoting use of ICT (Information, Communication Technology) for faster dissemination of technologies to the end-users.