Nabarangpur, a southern Odisha district that was entirely dependent on neighbouring Andhra Pradesh for the supply of fish till a few years ago, is teeming with pisciculture activity now, from maintaining brood fish to seed production, and from fish food production to live fish markets, encompassing the entire pisciculture value chain.
The turnaround has been made possible through the efforts of the Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (CIFA), a research institute under the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR), which has actively shared its laboratory knowledge with the general public.
CIFA is part of a consortium of 11 famous institutes affiliated to the ICAR, including the Indian Council of Medical Research, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), that have been working for the socio-economic development of Nabarangpur, dubbed one of the poorest districts of the country. The central laboratories are variously involved in promoting employment generation opportunities in food processing, value addition for crops, horticulture, and the poultry sector.
