Odisha CM Advises Fisheries Officials to Act as Facilitators & Inspire Fish Farming for Income Boost

On Wednesday, Chief Minister of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik advised the newly recruited assistant fisheries officers to act as facilitators and motivate people to take up fisheries and help boost their income.

Saying that Odisha is presently in the fourth position in the country in fish production, he called upon them to work in a mission mode to help move the state from number four to the number one position in fish production.

He said, “We should not be satisfied with incremental changes. We have to go for transformational changes if we want to see Odisha as a developed state.” He also said that he hoped that the new officers will work faithfully and transform the lives of fish farmers.

The chief minister added that fish production has escalated around four-fold in the last two decades and has reached about 10 lakh tonnes in the last financial year. He went on to say that the state at the same time has seen a 12-fold rise in seafood export from Rs 379 crore in 2000-01 to Rs 4,526 crore in 2021-22.

Ranendra Pratap Swain, Agriculture, Fisheries, and ARD Minister underlined the accomplishments in the fisheries sector. He said that the fisheries sector has a huge chance of multiplying farmers’ income. In addition to this, he said that the joining of new officers will make the department more lively.