Efforts of a farmer in fish seed production for self-employment.

Abstract

Jharkhand has recently been carved out of Bihar as a new “tribal” state of India. Its rural areas are full of hills, forests, reservoirs and ponds. With limited natural breeding grounds for major carps, quality fish seed has always been a problem for Jharkhan d’s farmers. When natural seed production was higher in the Bihar rivers of Kosi, Sone and Ganga, farmers and the Department of Fisheries (DOF) used to procure seed from these rivers, and later in northern Bihar. Today natural seed has become scarce and people look to hatcheries in West Bengal. Millions of fish seed, fry and fingerlings are brought to Jharkhand through various means of transportation, and millions of rupees are taken back by the farmers of West Bengal. The Jharkhand DOF is establishing hatcheries and streamlining its farms, but the process needs to be more extensive to cover all the water areas of the state. At present, 45-50 percent of the water area remains unstocked because of non-availability of fish seed, financial constraints and the unawareness of farmers about the benefits of aquaculture.

Citation

Baraik, R.B.; Kumar, A. Efforts of a farmer in fish seed production for self-employment. STREAM Journal (2002) 1 (2) 1-2.

Efforts of a farmer in fish seed production for self-employment.

Published 1 January 2002