Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government and the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) in India have launched the ‘Secure Fishing App’ to empower the fisher-folks by providing real-time information, officials said.
The dynamic mobile application developed by WFP in collaboration with Odisha’s fisheries and animal resources development department seeks to empower fisherfolks of the state by also providing information, insights and analytics that directly contribute to their livelihood.
It is a web-based dashboard for use by government officers to track fishery sector activities and aims to meet through informed decisions and the holistic needs of marine fishers.
The state government gives a high priority to the fisheries sector and places it along with aquaculture sector as one of the growth propellers for over 15.89 lakh fishermen including farmers, women SHGs, youths and entrepreneurs.
The app also provides fishers with access to critical and near real-time tailored climate and ocean state information services and reduces fishers’ vulnerabilities, increases their income and help to achieve their food security.
“The Secure Fishing App is focused on the coastal fishing communities to improve their safety, resilience and daily catch as they are among the most vulnerable groups. The application will also be very useful for the officials from the fisheries department.” said the Odisha Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment, R P Swain Friday.
The app is a strategic partnership that will directly contribute to strengthening resilience using knowledge and technology while securing a livelihood, said Bishow Parajuli, representative and country director for WFP in India.
It is being implemented as a pilot in Paradip and will subsequently be extended to the marine fishers in the state. “The context-specific functionality of the application will help the fisherfolk save their life and assets and improve their livelihoods,” said S K Vashishth, the secretary in the fisheries and animal resources departments.