The Uttar Pradesh government says it wants fisheries to be a reliable source of income for farmers and fishing communities by making better use of Gram Sabha (village council) ponds, reservoirs and rivers.

More than 80,000 hectares of Gram Sabha ponds have been leased for fish farming, 2,205 km of rivers brought under organised leasing and 342 reservoirs are now used for fish production, the state said. Fish production has risen from 6.29 lakh tonnes to 15.90 lakh tonnes in the past eight years, according to Mukesh Kumar Meshram, Additional Chief Secretary of the Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development and Fisheries Department.

"Our structured approach has brought transparency, efficiency, and stronger community participation in fisheries management," Meshram told The Hindu, adding that the expansion had created jobs for thousands of rural households and that scientific fish culture and access to government schemes and collective investment models had raised productivity and income stability.

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Source: The Hindu, Agriculture