Fish waste processing technology developed by ICAR-CIBA for the production of PlanktonPlus from fish waste sourced from fish markets has been transferred to aqua-entrepreneurs, Sri Nagakishore Mudedla and Sri Syamala Rao Maradani, from Gudivada, Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh, through an MoU on 16th May 2019, at CIBA Headquarters, Chennai. Under the agreement, the ICAR-CIBA will transfer the PlanktonPlus production technology on a non-exclusive basis and also provide the necessary training to the entrepreneurs for producing PlanktonPlus. Dr. K K Vijayan, Director, CIBA, who executed the MoU for CIBA, along with farmer entrepreneur Sri Nagakishore Mudedla, highlighted the importance of PlanktonPlus, a product for boosting plankton production in aquaculture rearing systems. He expressed his confidence that this model will be a successful and sustainable model for converting the fish waste to value-added products, which will also help in cleaning the environment aligning the program on Swachh Bharat. He recalled the partnership of CIBA with the Nambikkai Fish Farmers Group, Nambikkai Nagar, Chennai, for recycling fish waste to wealth as an alternative livelihood activity for the fishers in their village.
Dr. Debasis De, Principal Scientist and team leader for the PlanktonPlus development program of CIBA briefed about the significance of this MoU and outlined the genesis and advantages of the technology in aquaculture. Sri Nagakishore Mudedla and his partner Sri Syamala Rao Maradani, expressed their satisfaction in using the product during the field trials, in both fish and shrimp farms in A.P. This technology has the potential in cleaning the fish markets across the country and also in providing alternative livelihood to produce wealth from waste as a concept of the circular economy.
