January 29, 2009

Farmers in the northern Indian state, Haryana are increasingly getting hooked to fishery as a major source of income as the fish production growth rate has touched a new high of roughly 15 percent in the current year.

The state government's efforts to promote fishery as a profitable subsidiary profession in rural areas have shown positive results with the state's fish production leapfrogging from 48,200 tonnes in 2005 to 54,428 tonnes.

According to a spokesman of the fisheries department, the same would touch a record figure of 77,755 tonnes by the end of current financial years.

The spokesman said the water area under fish culture had also been increased from 10,532 hectares to 12,800 hectares and it was predicted to increase to 15,250 hectares by the end of this financial year.

He added that fish production per hectare would also be increased from 5048 kilogrammes to 5200 kilogrammes.

Haryana is ranked second in the country in terms of per hectare fish production.