An interactive workshop on ‘cage culture in Umiam reservoir’ was organised by ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute (ICAR-CIFRI), Regional Centre, Guwahati in collaboration with ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Umiam at Umniuh Khwan village of Umiam yesterday.
The programme was attended by 55 farmers, including 25 women, under the Ri-Bhoi Farmers’ Union.
Cage culture in Umiam reservoir was initiated for the first time in 2019 by ICAR-CIFRI.
This time, ICAR-CIFRI sanctioned six cages and provided feed for initiating cage culture at Umiam reservoir.
ICAR believes that cage culture in reservoirs is coming up in a big way in different states of India through technological back-stopping by ICAR-CIFRI and financial assistance under central government programmes.
The farmers, especially the female participants, were urged to take utmost interest to make the collaborative cage culture a success beyond the project period so that similar government support may be received in future.
On the occasion, a leaflet on “Management of openwater fisheries in Meghalaya: ICAR-CIFRI interventions” was released for the benefit of stakeholders. A total of 9,000 fish fingerlings were released in cages installed in the reservoir and four tons of feed was provided to the beneficiaries for use in cage culture.
During the technical session, Dr. Pronob Das gave a brief presentation on cage culture technology for open waters including the findings of previous cage culture trials in Umiam reservoir. Resource persons from the two institutes interacted with the participants on different aspects of cage culture including feed and health management and economics.
