Bhubaneswar: Odisha has received the Best Fisheries State’ at the Ninth Agriculture Leadership Awards organised by Agriculture Today Group in New Delhi.
Sanjeeb Kumar Mishra, Resident Commissioner, Odisha Bhawan received the prestigious award in favour of Odisha in the Agriculture Leadership Awardees-2019, said Fisheries & Animal Resources Development Department.
Bestowed with inland, brackish water and marine resources, fisheries has emerged as a prominent economic activity for Odisha. Fifth in inland and eighth in Marine Fish production in India, Odisha along with various centrally sponsored Schemes and Plan Schemes, has initiated several activities for increasing the fish production of the State.
Odisha Fisheries Policy 2015, was first of its kind in India that envisaged to bring sustainable and holistic development in fisheries sector through enhancement of production, productivity, optimal utilization of available resources, export enhancement, welfare and life safety of fishermen.
Odisha, pursuant to the policy innervations has observed a jump in production of fish from 521278 MT in 2015-16 to 758961 MT in 2018-19 with 45.6% growth during the period of three years with a subsequent increase in the seafood export from Rs.1963.85 crore in 2015-16 to Rs 3100.00 crore in 2017-18.