National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB), Ministry of Fisheries, AH&D, GoI has organised a National level Workshop on the “Role of cooperatives and federations in fisheries sector-scope for an enhanced role in PMMSY and FIDF schemes” in Hyderabad recently.
The workshop aimed at involving the fisheries federations in implementation of the government fisheries development schemes for the benefit of fishers through the cooperative system. The programme served as an interactive platform for the fisheries federations to showcase their activities and share their experiences.
The workshop highlighted the need to strengthen the fisheries cooperatives with due focus to the gaps at the field level and challenges being faced by the cooperatives in different states. Awareness to the officials of fisheries federations was created on various Government of India schemes to enable them in tapping the financial resources from PMMSY and FIDF to help in the development of fishermen cooperatives.
The officials of the fisheries federations from 14 states i.e; Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Odisha, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, National Cooperatives Development corporations (NCDC) and National level fisheries federation i.e; National Federation of Fishers Cooperatives Ltd (FISHCOPFED) have participated in the workshop.
Dr. C Suvarna IFS, Chief Executive, NFDB, has addressed the gathering by presenting initiatives of NFDB in encouraging the fisheries cooperatives through various interventions of schemes of Government of India, which includes Fish Farmer Producer Organizations (FFPOs).
B K. Mishra, MD (i/c), FISHCOPFED explained the role of the FISHCOPFED in supporting the fishers and the cooperatives and expressed that there are 22000 fishermen cooperative societies operational all over India and there is a need for the empowerment of PFCS in a professional manner.
Director (F&TD) NCDC, Pradhu Paul Raj presented NCDC activities and their role in developing Fisheries Federations, followed by sharing of experiences and success stories of MatsyaFed, Kerala, TAFCOFED, Tamil Nadu, Assam Fisheries Federation, Assam , Karnataka Cooperative Fisheries Federation, Karnataka, TSFCOF, Telangana, Odisha Fisheries Federation, Odisha, ZOFISHFED, Mizoram, Rajasthan Federation, AFCOF, Andhra Pradesh,, TAFCS, Tripura and Jharkhand State Cooperative Fisheries Federation, Jharkhand.