A conference and farmers interaction meet on “Haryana Towards Blue Revolution” has been organized by DN farms, on 23rd, July 2016 at Saharwa, Haryana. Mr Sandeep Sigh, Director DN farms welcomed the gathering and gave an overview of the conference. The main aim of the conference was to make awareness, opportunities and challenges on the prospects of shrimp farming in the salt-affected inland saline soils of Haryana. Dr K.K.Vijayan, Director, CIBA inaugurated the conference and in his presidential address, highlighted the potential of shrimp farming in the state of Haryana, while he cautioned them about the challenges of issues such as salinization and the precaution to be taken while farming the shrimp in inland saline soils. He emphasized the need for judicious use of water using modern technologies such as recirculation, re-use and crop rotation. Further, he stressed the necessity for developing and strict implementation of Best Management Practices for sustainable shrimp aquaculture in this region and requested the farmers to look forward long-term benefits, through sustainable approaches. Dr K. Ambasanklar, Principal scientist, CIBA participated and delivered a lecture on “Nutrition and Feed Management in shrimp aquaculture”, where he again mentioned the problem of nutrient loading, recycling of used water and adoption of environmentally farming practices. In this conference Scientists from CIFE, Rothak centre and aquaculture and biofloc consultants from Chennai also delivered the lecture on various aspects of shrimp farming in inland saline soils. The conference was followed by interaction meet between CIBA scientists with the shrimp farmers. About 200 shrimp farmers and stakeholders participated in the conference as well as in the interaction meet. Farmers interacted with CIBA scientists and clarified their quires on various aspects of shrimp farming. DN farms have sought the shrimp feed technology transfer for Vannamei Plus developed by CIBA and in principle and the farmer agreed to enter into an MoU in this regard. Subsequently, the scientific team from CIBA visited the proposed feed mill site to assess the technical suitability. Farmers expressed their sincere thanks to Director and scientists of ICAR-CIBA for the Scientific inputs on the sustainable development of an inland saline aquaculture in the region
