The Nitish Kumar government will undertake an exercise to assess the exact amount of fish that is imported to meet the local demand with an aim to make Bihar a fish surplus state by 2020. According to market estimates, the state needs around 6.42 lakh metric tonnes of fish annually against which it produces around 5.10 lakh metric tonnes. There is, however, a catch. Some of the fish, produced locally in Bihar, go to markets in Bengal and Nepal which leads to further widening of the demand-supply gap. Market sources feel that around 30,000 metric tonnes of Bihar fish go to Nepal and Bengal annually. “During a recent review meeting of the animal and fisheries resources department, the chief minister categorically told us to find out the exact amount of fish which we import from other states and then make plans accordingly to make Bihar fish surplus by 2020,” a senior official of the department told The Telegraph. The official said a fish farmers’ federation was being planned with which all those associated with production and marketing would be linked. “The federation’s network across the state would help us generate authentic data on the fish demand and production,” added the official. Until the time the federation is set up, the department will contact some major suppliers who get fish imported from other states to collect information. “By contacting the source point, we would try to get a rough idea about the fish coming from other states. This would help us prepare a detailed plan to enhance local fish production,” said the official. As things stand now, Bihar has abundant water resources at its disposal to undertake fish farming. The state has 93,000 hectares of ponds, 9,000 hectares of oxbow lakes, 9.41 lakh hectares of chaur (low) lands which remain submerged in water for six to seven months in a year, 26,000 hectares of reservoir and 3,200km of rivers. It produces 5.10 lakh metric tonnes of fish annually and the productivity is around 3 tonnes per hectare. A lot of the fish coming from outside is from Andhra Pradesh which sell for prices lower than the local variety. While local fishes cost between Rs 200 and Rs 400 per kg, those coming from outside are available in the range of Rs 140 to Rs 200 per kg. Fisheries department officials, however, played down the issue. “Fish coming from outside are three to five days old whereas locally produced fish are fresh and of better quality. People in general prefer fresh fish and inputs collected by us from the market suggest that the local fishes are the first choice of the majority of customers,” said one official. A prominent fish seller of Motihari town, Jiten Sahni, agreed. “Fresh fish is the first choice of customers. Even poor people go for it. They compromise on the quantity but not on the quality,” he said. Sonu Kumar, a fish seller from Patna’s Raja Bazaar, said much the same. “Imported fish are generally purchased by the small hotel owners as the low prices add to their margin. But most individual customers prefer local fish,” he said. A source in the animal and fisheries resources department said an internal assessment has revealed that Bihar has the potential of attaining 5 tonnes/hectare productivity level. Also, there is a huge potential to increase the internal demand of fish. At present, the per capita annual consumption of fish in Bihar is 7.7 kg per person whereas the national average is 10 kg per person. According to the recommendations of the Indian Council of Medical Research, an individual ideally should consume 11.2 kg of fish every year. “High prices of fish keep them away from the reach of the poor people. Once production increases, prices would stabilise and common people too would be able to consume the fish of their choice,” said an official of the department. The official, however, pointed out that a few creases needed to be ironed out towards making Bihar a fish surplus state. “Against the sanctioned 1,391 posts, only 378 persons are working in offices linked to the fisheries directorate. The government needs to fill these vacant posts immediately,” he said. Department officials refused to speak on the manpower shortage, claiming that filling the vacant posts and expanding the network of experts could be decided at the highest level only. Efforts to speak to animal and fisheries resources department minister Pashupati Paras proved futile.