INLAND AQUACULTURE SUCCESSFUL FARMER

AND KVK INTERVENTIONS

An interesting and enthusiastic farmer Thiru.T.Jeevanantham S/o Thangavel, residing

at Mangamalpuram of Anbil village in Lalgudi taluk of Tiruchirappalli district is

successfully running a fish pond as a component of IFS and rearing fish for the past

five years consistently on profit, possible only through the interventions of KVK.

‘Fisheries’ play a vital role in ensuring the livelihood of a large number of

people belonging to the economically weaker sections of the population of the State. It

is identified as a powerful tool stimulating growth of a number of subsidiary industries

and is a source of healthy and

nutritious food. The World

Health Organisation (WHO) has

recommended per capita fish

consumption of 13 kg per annum.

The per capita fish consumption

of Tamil Nadu is about 9.8 kg per

annum. More than a million

fishers in the State depend on

fisheries and aquaculture for their

livelihood. The State of Tamil Nadu with its unique marine ecosystem having Bay of

Bengal on the East, flanked by Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea on the South and West,

with 1,076 km long coastline, contributes 12.62% of the country’s marine fish

production. The fresh / brackish water ecosystems offer good scope as alternative

livelihoods for rural poor. Besides, fisheries sector generates significant foreign

exchange earnings and also plays a pivotal role in the State and National economy.

To harness the potential of inland fisheries sector, the Government of Tamil

Nadu has already embarked on introducing fish varieties suitable for culture in short

seasonal water bodies, integrating aquaculture in the existing irrigation systems / rain

water harvesting systems, brood stock development to produce quality fish

fingerlings, introduction of technologies like cage culture and pen culture for higher

fish yield, culture of L.vannamei in the coastal fallow lands, leasing of water bodies to

private sector for fish culture, provision of subsidy for purchase of equipments like

aerators and generators, fishing nets and other input requirements for fish and prawn

culture, promoting the ornamental fish culture and trade, creating awareness on ‘Fish

as health and wealth’ by conducting fish festival, promoting fish tourism by

establishing state-of-the-art “Oceanarium” and public aquaria etc.

Inland Fisheries in Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu is endowed with 3.83 lakh ha of effective inland water resources

comprising of reservoirs, major irrigation tanks, minor irrigation tanks and short

seasonal tanks and ponds, rivers, backwaters and derelict water bodies. These water

bodies mainly depend on the seasonal rains and the water retention period of most of

the water bodies in Tamil Nadu is very short. Poor and erratic rain fall, less retention

of water in the water bodies, mismatch of breeding season of fishes with water

availability for quality fish seed production, unavailability of low cost and quality feed

are the factors responsible for limiting inland fish production. The traditional carp

culture including composite fish culture requires water for a culture period of 8 to 12

months. This carp culture does not suit short seasonal water bodies which have water

retention for 4 to 5 months only. In order to overcome the limitations, the Fisheries

Department is taking suitable measures by introducing fast growing fish species, such

as Amur Carp, Genetically Improved and Farmed Tilapia (GIFT), Jayanthi Rohu and

Pangasius in short seasonal water bodies.

Role and responsibility of KVK

KVK is a district level knowledge centric institution exclusively for technical

backstopping to the farming community invariable of different farm enterprise. The

KVK facilitates the farmers to acquire technical know-how and practical experience

on various agro and allied enterprising through various training modules and

maintaining instructional farms. In Tiruchirapalli district of Tamil Nadu, the KVK is

situated at Sirugamani on the river bank of Cauvery along the National Highway 67

connecting the Manchester of south India – Coimbatore. The KVK Sirugamani is an

extension centre functioning under the Directorate of Extension Education, Tamil

Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore. The district almost shares boundaries with

8 districts keeping agriculture as the major occupation. The district has a geographical

spread of about 4,403.83 Sq. Kilometer with different agro ecosystem viz., Delta,

Garden land and Rainfed Farming system. The farmers depend on canal water and

rainfall for irrigating the crops grown which sometimes leads to failure due to climate

uncertainty. As mentioned earlier the concept of farming system is gaining momentum

among the delta farmers keeping inland aquaculture as one of the major component

along with cropping system. In Tiruchirappalli district, the inland fish catch is about

3805 tonnes with 618 farmers engaged in inland fish farming.In line with the basic

principle of farm extension “seeing is believing” the role of KVK is inevitable in

extending hands to the farmers by providing necessary technical backstopping through

trainings and showcasing the technology through model farms.

Impact of KVK Interventions on Inland Aquaculture

Through the interventions of KVK, Sirugamani like on campus trainings and

demonstrations many farmers have become successful fish farmers cum fish traders.

One of the recent progressive farmers through KVK turned as successful entrepreneur

in mixed fish farming. The details are given below:

An interesting and enthusiastic farmer Thiru.T.Jeevanantham S/o Thangavel,

residing at Mangamalpuram of Anbil village in Lalgudi taluk of Tiruchirappalli

district is successfully running a fish pond as a component of IFS and rearing fish for

the past five years consistently on

profit, possible only through the

interventions of KVK. By direct

interviewing (07.04.2017), the

farmer shared that his ideas were

boosted up after attending the two

days vocational training on

Mixed fish rearing in farm ponds at KVK, Sirugamnai during 2011-2012. With the

full support of KVK, Sirugamni, the farmer got motivated again to start the fish pond

unit at his premises. (Before the contact of KVK, he ran the fish rearing in farm pond

in loss). He expanded the farm pond and dug a bore well for supplementing the water

requirement during summer. KVK facilitated him to get equipped with technical

backstopping from Department of Fisheries of Trichy district. He purchased 2000

fingerlings from nearby fingerling supplier of Thanjavur district which is just 10 km

away from his residence.

The fishes like katla, rohu, mrigal, nattu kendai and pul kendai are being

reared by him in his pond and sold out @Rs.180/kg at present. By his own experience,

he prepared a list of feed for fish

rearing and maintained water level

of pond. Good quality feed was fed

to fishes which includes groundnut

cake, rice bran meal, soya cake,

dried fish meal powder and

agrimean powder and obtained high

quality weight gained fishes. He is rearing 10000 fingerlings in one acre pond instead

of recommended 2000 numbers with supplemental feeding of high quality fish feed

developed by him. He maintained the population by giving the feed @ 1 kg in poly

bag hung over the water surface at different places. Feed was provided on daily basis

upto 6 months. When fishes gain a

weight of 200 g each he start

harvesting the fishes. Depending

upon demand, fishes are harvested

@20kg to 50 kg/harvest from 7th

month upto 12th month. Further he

added that initially fishes were sold

@Rs.140 to 160/kg. The farmer applied the technique of using wall papers to make

advertisement about his farm and fish quality in and around villages. Within a month,

sales boosted up and now he is

selling fish @Rs.180/kg. He also

added that in the past five years he

is consistently getting @ 20 to 40

kg of fish per week and

successfully running the business.

Combined with fish pond, he is also

rearing 10 number of ducks and obtaining reasonable income by sale of eggs and

meat. The farmer has planted mango, sapota, banan a, jack fruit, acid lime trees in and

around the fish pond to reduce the heating of water. With the assistance of TVS motor

company, Tiruchirappalli, he has installed six number of honey bee hives in his farm

and getting pure honey for his household purpose besides selling honey to the

neighbours @Rs.400/kg.