Rs 160 million shrimp farm to benefit Batticaloa farmers

Sivam Packiyanathan Batticaloa Special Correspondent

Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development Minister Rajitha Senaratne opened a cluster shrimp farm at Vaddavan in the Vakarai Secretarial Division in the Batticaloa District, constructed at a cost of Rs 160 million funded by the International Funding for Agriculture Development (IFARD) recently. Under the Biyawara scheme, Divisional Secretary Vakarai S Ragulanayaki allocated 120 acre lands for 27 prawn culture recipients.

Each of the recipients will get a loan of Rs 250,000 from the Bank of Ceylon for farming. The deeds for these lands were handed over by Minister Senaratne. A kerosene oil fuel station for the fishing community was commissioned at Palameenmadu, Batticaloa at a cost of Rs 12 million funded by IFARD.

A new market for fish sales constructed by the Fisheries Corporation was opened at Sinna Uppodai, Batticaloa at a cost of Rs 1.8 million funded by IFARD, where consumers could purchase all kinds of fishes at competitive rates. Meanwhile, the deep sea trawler fishermen of Poonochchimunai, under their union name 'Al Brakath Deep Sea Fishing Society' submitted a memorandum to the minister outlining their difficulties in fishing outside the 7km limits at deep sea.

Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development Deputy Minister Sarath Kumara Gunaratna, Resettlement Deputy Minister Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, Eravur Town Council Chairman Alisahir Mowlana, Ministry Secretary D M R B Dissanayake, National Coordinator for IFARD Prathap Sing, Batticaloa Fisheries Department Deputy Director Domingo Gyeorge, Manmunai North Divisional Secretary S Giritharan and others participated.