Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi on Thursday said fish production in the state had made new strides as it went up from 2.79 lakh metric tonne (MT) in 2005 to 5.87 lakh MT in the last fiscal. He said the state also exported 32,000 MT of fish to Nepal and other states last year. Addressing a function to mark the World Fishery Day at Gyan Bhavan here, Modi said the per capita availability of fish in Bihar stood at 8.79kg per year, which was near the national average of 10kg per year. Union minister for agriculture and farmers’ welfare Radha Mohan Singh said the Centre had allotted Rs 1.84 lakh crore for the development of the fishery sector as part of a Blue Revolution’ in the country. As many as 29,127.73 hectares of water points have been developed for fish farming in the country, he said. Modi said when the first NDA government was formed in the state, it paid huge attention to developing the fishery sector as part of which fish farmers were given training to practise scientific farming. It also boosted the income of farmers, he added. The state has 462 fishermen’s cooperative societies. The government is planning to provide an assistance of Rs 250 crore to these societies in consultation with the central agency, Modi said. He also appealed to the bankers to provide loans to fishermen at 4% interest rate.