Bhubaneswar: A pearl farmer from Bihar has gained special appreciation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ programme, broadcasted 26th July, 2020.
The pearl farmer Jaishankar Kumar from Begusarai in Bihar had taken training on pearl farming from ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (CIFA), Bhubaneswar.
Jaishankar who is a government servant, turned into a pearl farmer after attending the pearl culture training course organized by the ICAR-CIFA BBSR. Notably, every year ICAR-CIFA Bhubaneswar trains many youth and farmers across the country in freshwater pearl farming.
After getting training on pearl culture, he established a pearl culture farm at Begusarai and started producing pearls in an integrated farming model with fish, duck, poultry, and vermin composting.
On seeing success of Jaishankar, another educated and unemployed youth has decided to start pearl faming. And now Jaishankar is imparting training on pearl farming to other farmers and migrant workers who returned home due to the COVID-19 crisis.
To return the ‘Gurudakshina’, Jaishankar is constantly upgrading ICAR-CIFA with the new techniques and skills which he has been using to improvise his pearl farming.
PM Modi during his address in the 14th Episode of ‘Mann Ki Baat 2.0’ broadcasted 26th July appreciated the spirit of farmers who explored new avenues to increase their income. The Prime Minister said that these sorts of initiatives are extremely important for making India self-reliant.
J.K. Jena, Deputy Director General (Fisheries Science), ICAR, New Delhi and Saroj Kumar Swain, Director (Acting), ICAR-CIFA congratulated Jaishankar.
PNN
