Sanjeevani Sugar Factory started fish farming in collaboration with Fisheries Department

Ponda: Sanjeevani Sugar Factory, which had closed its operations since 2019-20, has launched several new initiatives to generate revenue. As part of these initiatives, the factory started fish farming on Friday. This comes after its previous project of vegetable and fruit production.

The fish breeding unit was started using abandoned pits dug about two decades ago. Three such pits will be used for fish farming. Fisheries Department officials and Sanjeevani Sugar Factory Administrator Satej Kamat inaugurated the fish farming unit. Fisheries department officials said around 1500 seeds of various fishes like rohu, katla and common carp were scattered in the fish breeding pits. It will take six months for the different types of fish to grow to a weight of about 1.5 kg.

Kamat said that this will help in increasing the revenue of the factory. He said that the monthly revenue in 2022 was Rs 6000 per month and at the end of 2023 it was around Rs 3 lakh per month. Fish farming will provide regular revenue. Now, he expects to earn a revenue of Rs 5 lakh per month from vegetable, fruit and fish farming.

Kamat said that 24 plots have been developed for vegetable cultivation and eight teams of contract workers have been given incentives for vegetable cultivation. The vegetable produce is sold at the Sanjeevani Sugar Factory outlets, recently a ‘bag of vegetables for Rs 100’ initiative was launched and fish will be made available to the local people once its production starts.