The Department of Fisheries (DoF), Ministry of Fisheries, Animal husbandry & Dairying, organized a webinar on “Potential & Role of Fisheries Cooperatives” recently. This was the 14th webinar organized by the department in an effort to celebrate the ongoing Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, marking 75 years of India’s independence.
The event was presided over by Jatindra Nath Swain, Secretary, Department of Fisheries (DoF), Government of India (GOI) along with Sagar Mehra, Joint Secretary (Inland Fisheries), Dr J Balaji, Joint Secretary (Marine Fisheries) along with other officials of the Department.
This webinar was intended to open a forum to initiate a dialogue about the crucial role of fisheries cooperatives in bringing out prosperity in the lives of fish farmers, leading towards holistic sectoral development.
More than 100 participants including expert panellists, fishers, farmers, entrepreneurs, members of fisheries cooperative societies, fisheries officials of different States/UTs, faculties from State Agriculture, Veterinary and Fisheries universities, Fisheries cooperative officers, Scientists, students and other stakeholders from the fisheries value-chain across the country attended the webinar.
The FFPOs scheme under PMMSY strives to achieve inclusive and sustainable transformation of the fisheries sector through the creation of 720 FFPOs with earmarked investment of Rs. 135 crores.
While 500 FFPOs are to be formed under PMMSY, the remaining 220 FFPOs are to be set up through convergence of ongoing FPO Scheme with the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, GoI.
The Department of Fisheries so far has made a head start for setting up 90+ FFPOs worth Rs. 47.80 Crores with the help of NCDC and National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB).
Sundeep Kumar Nayak, Director General, NCP; Dr. K.P. Rajan, Director, DNS Regional Institute of Cooperative Management, Patna; Dr. S. Noorjahan Beevi, Additional Director of Fisheries, Tamil Nadu and Mr. Anil Rana, Board of Director, AgriOrganic Producer Company Ltd, Una, HP shared their valuable thoughts during the expert panel sessions.