5.1. Governments and NGO
5.2 Support Services
5.3 Package of Training Programs
5.4 Credits
Although fisheries including aquaculture is a state subject, Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, assists and coordinates the developmental activities in the states and provides finance for central sector schemes. Each state has a full-fledged department of Fisheries, which looks after aquaculture development in the state. The last Five-Year Development Plan (VIII Plan) had an outlay of Rs. 11,723 million for fisheries sector.
In general, in early days, aquaculture development in India emphasized on public sector development of large-scale carp hatcheries for meeting seed requirement. The World Bank and its affiliates provided developmental aid and soft financing for hatchery development. Other international projects for aquaculture R&D were confined mainly to strengthening infrastructure for research, Human Resource Development (HRD) and extension support.
Development of aquaculture through FFDA had been a unique endeavor. This important program is being implemented through the states. The scheme was started in 1973-74. Initially Government of India financed the setting of FFDAs on 100% basis, but later revised to 50:50 basis shared between Central/State governments. The number the FFDAs has been progressively increasing with improvement in pond productivity. Presently 414 FFDAs are in operation with an average rate of fish production to 2183 kg/ha/yr during 1996-97.
The FFDA provides a package of technical, financial and extension support to fish farmers. The agency arranges suitable water area on lease on long term basis to identified beneficiaries, provides incentives for construction of ponds and tanks, and also inputs for first year of fish culture operation. The following are the subsidy and details of other supports, given to the farmers.
In order to encourage the scheduled tribe fish farmers, they are given twice the amount, for items as shown above in first to four bullets.
Subsidy for construction of new ponds, renovation of existing ponds, and first year input to an individual beneficiary up to 10 ha is given with or without institutional finance.
Since inception of the scheme, the progress made by the FFDAs is as follows:
|
· Water area covered: |
0.422 million ha |
|
· No. of farmers and fishermen
trained: |
0.538 million |
|
· No. of beneficiary
covered: |
0.780 million |
Table 7. Activities of Fish Farmers Development Agencies (FFDAs) during 1996-97
|
State/UT |
Number of FFDAs |
Water area covered (ha) |
Fish Farmers trained (#s) |
Number of Beneficiaries |
Average production |
|
Andhra Pradesh |
22 |
4120 |
11927 |
5805 |
3500 |
|
Arunachal Pradesh |
2 |
308 |
1450 |
1775 |
1100 |
|
Assam |
23 |
2930 |
14908 |
9332 |
1885 |
|
Bihar |
49 |
23343 |
23311 |
18151 |
2075 |
|
Goa |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
--- |
|
Gujarat |
17 |
36983 |
13255 |
13600 |
1225 |
|
Haryana |
16 |
6807 |
9490 |
9692 |
2953 |
|
Himachal Pradesh |
2 |
292 |
2082 |
1146 |
2000 |
|
Jammu & Kashmir |
2 |
3140 |
1713 |
1803 |
2550 |
|
Karnataka |
18 |
28602 |
9428 |
6198 |
1330 |
|
Kerala |
14 |
2309 |
7669 |
11506 |
1650 |
|
Madhya Pradesh |
45 |
67633 |
29169 |
67148 |
1705 |
|
Maharashtra |
29 |
15071 |
9628 |
56401 |
1240 |
|
Manipur |
8 |
2059 |
3473 |
6195 |
1450 |
|
Meghalaya |
2 |
325 |
749 |
749 |
700 |
|
Mizoram |
5 |
286 |
816 |
959 |
1750 |
|
Nagaland |
8 |
1724 |
2751 |
7513 |
2500 |
|
Orissa |
30 |
27230 |
41747 |
110324 |
2105 |
|
Punjab |
17 |
7148 |
13218 |
9557 |
4100 |
|
Rajasthan |
15 |
2424 |
8792 |
1970 |
2030 |
|
Sikkim |
1 |
14 |
687 |
821 |
3500 |
|
Tamil Nadu |
17 |
5114 |
7386 |
9654 |
1240 |
|
Tripura |
4 |
2133 |
60185 |
19305 |
2500 |
|
UP |
56 |
80452 |
78183 |
75161 |
2320 |
|
West Bengal |
18 |
101735 |
185485 |
335122 |
3000 |
|
Pondicherry |
1 |
99 |
454 |
563 |
1100 |
|
Total |
422 |
422281 |
537956 |
780450 |
2183 |
UT - Union TerritoriesThe scheme had an outlay of Rs. 420 million during the Eighth Five Year Plan against which Rs. 438 million were released by the Central Government to the States/Union territories for development of freshwater aquaculture.
UP - Uttar PradeshSource: Yadav - Personal communication 1998
Besides the efforts of the Central and State Governments, many NGOs and private organizations are also involved in rural aquaculture development, the most notable are Ramkrishna Mission and M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture. In fact, The traditional, social and religious outlook of Indian way of life being service to poor and needy, which gained momentum under Gandhiji has created a number of national and regional service organizations deeply involved in the development of rural poor, and many of these social organizations promote development of rural aquaculture.
Education and Research Institutions
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi is the apex national body for research, education and extension education in agriculture, animal sciences, agricultural engineering and fisheries including aquaculture. India has the distinction of having the Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Mumbai as a deemed University, the first of its kind in the Indian Sub-continent. The Institute imparts education at masters and doctoral levels in fisheries including aquaculture and also conducts post-graduate diploma courses. It has six campuses and eleven departments. The Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture, Kauslyaganga, Bhubaneshwar also offers Post graduate programs of Master in Fisheries Science and Ph.D. in Freshwater Aquaculture.
Fisheries Colleges under different State Agricultural Universities at Berhampur, Cochin, Dholi, Mangalore, Pant Nagar, Tuticorin are involved in teaching fisheries and aquaculture at the graduate level. Recently, the University Grants Commission, New Delhi has sponsored degree courses on Industrial Fisheries (which includes aquaculture) at different Science Colleges in many parts of India.
Although, all the eight fisheries research institutes under ICAR namely Central Institute of Fisheries Education (CIFE), Mumbai, Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (CIFA), Kauslyaganga, Central Inland Capture Fisheries Institute (CICFRI), Barrackpore, Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture (CIBA), Chennai, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), Cochin, Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT), Cochin, National Bureau of Fish Genetics Resources, (NBFGR) Lucknow, and National Research Center On Coldwater Fisheries (NRCCF), Haldwani, are involved on different aspects of aquaculture, the CIFA and CIBA are totally devoted to undertake aquacultural research respectively in freshwater and brackishwater. ICAR under certain schemes also funds research on aquaculture at different universities. Research laboratories of universities at Aligarh, Bhagalpur, Calcutta, Delhi, Kalyani, Nagpur, Sagar, Santiniketan, Varanasi and many more, are engaged on different aspects of aquaculture.
The Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture, Kausalyaganga, established in 1986, is the premier institute in the country with the mandate of conducting research on different aspects of freshwater aquaculture and of undertaking specific programs for transfer of technology. The Institute serves as the Lead Center on Carp Farming under the Network of Aquaculture Centers in Asia-Pacific (NACA), now an intergovernmental regional body. The institute has six centers in different parts of the country to cater to the specific needs of the region. It is also deeply engaged in disseminating aquaculture technologies through organizing training programs at its regional centers, KVK/TTC at Kausalyaganga and also at Centers of Operational Research Project located in different states of India.
The Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture, Chennai, established in 1986, is engaged in conducting research on different aspects of brackishwater aquaculture as a national institute and also mandated to undertake transfer of technology through training, education and extension education programs. The institute has three research centers located at Kakdwip in West Bengal, Puri in Orissa, and Narakkal in Kerala.
Extension and Training
Each State Government has a full-fledged Department of Fisheries fully responsible for extension and training. As many as 422 FFDAs and 39 BFDAs have been sanctioned by the Government of India, and are entrusted with extension and training activities pertaining to aquaculture. While FFDAs trained about 780450 fish farmers, BFDAS trained 15000 shrimp farmers.
The KVK/TTC at Kausalyaganga have been deeply involved in extension and training activities on modern aquaculture technologies for the benefit of farmers and trainers, since their inception in 1977. In-service training programs for middle order executives and extension personnel on different aspects of aquaculture are organized at the CIFA and CIBA
For providing training to funding/financing personnel in agricultural sector including aquaculture, the Reserve Bank of India runs regular courses at the College of Agricultural Banking, Pune. Similarly ad hoc training programs are organized by National Bank of Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD), State Bank of India and also by other banks for managers, trainers and beneficiaries involved in aquaculture projects. The National Council for Cooperative Training organizes training programs for cooperative managers.
Though the efforts are afoot for transfer of technologies, it is still a difficult task to organize effective training programs at the grassroots to create skilled fish farmers. Effective and uniform curriculum of the training programs is seldom followed. In fact, at times it is seen that different organizations not only differ in their approach in imparting training but the course contents also differ considerably. Keeping these in view, the followings are some of the examples of training packages that are currently being used for promoting rural aquaculture development.
1. Pond Construction and Renovation
|
Location: |
Well-laid out fish farm. |
|
|
|
|
Duration/Season: |
3 days during summer. |
|
|
|
|
Resource Person: |
Irrigation Engineer. |
|
|
|
|
Clientele: |
Group of 15-20 fish farmers, farm women, and landless rural
poor |
|
|
|
|
Method of Instruction: |
Demonstration and discussion |
|
|
|
|
Course Content: |
Logistic of the site selection, water supply, soils and waters quality, shape and size of the pond, water inlet and outlet structures and drainage facilities. Embankment construction, turfing of the embankment, plantation
on the embankment. Leveling of the pond. |
|
|
|
|
Renovation of ponds: |
Desilting, use of silt, control of seepage, materials for
sealing, use of silt and maintenance of pond. |
|
Location: |
Carp Hatchery complex and farmers´ ponds. |
|
|
|
|
Duration/Season: |
4 days at hatchery and 2 days at farmers pond during breeding
season. |
|
|
|
|
Resource Person: |
Fish Breeder. |
|
|
|
|
Clientele: |
Group of 10 fish farmers, including women. |
|
|
|
|
Method of Instruction: |
Demonstration and involvement in step to step methodology of
brood selection, induced breeding, and seed production. |
|
|
|
|
Course Content: |
Selection of healthy carp for brook stock, raising of brood stock, stocking density, feeding, breeding cycle, identification and selection of the mature mother-stock, secondary sexual character, spawning habit, breeding behavior, courtship, spawning techniques. Induced breeding through hypophysation, extraction of pituitary grand, preparation of pituitary extract, intra-muscular injection, hydration, gain in weight after injection of pituitary. Stripping of males, fertilization of eggs, care of eggs, good and bad eggs, oxygenation of eggs, incubation of eggs, measures to avoid predators, incubation chamber/plastic pool. Prophylactic measures, hatching. Nursery preparation, eradication of weed, insects and molluscs, fertilization and stocking, duration ofrearing, stocking density. Feeding and harvesting, conditioning/acclimatization, oxygen packing. Method and mode of transportation. Economics of seed
production. |
|
Location: |
Government fish farm/Entrepreneurs fish farm/Farmers’
pond. |
|
|
|
|
Duration/Season: |
Initially 3 days followed by one day each time to show major
management techniques throughout the grow out period, and 2 days during final
harvesting. |
|
|
|
|
Resource Person: |
Fish Culturist/Extension worker and Agricultural
Chemist |
|
|
|
|
Clientele: |
Group of 15-20 Fish farmers, farmwomen, entrepreneurs,
unemployed youth and landless rural poor having access to pond |
|
|
|
|
Method of Instruction: |
Demonstration and actual involvement in different
procedures. |
|
|
|
|
Course Content with Appropriate Demonstration: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Principle of fish culture, selection of suitable species, food chain in the pond, role of sunlight and of oxygen, role of vegetation in ponds, desirable microphyte and macrophyte, common (submerged, floating and emergent) weed, photosynthesis, production and consumption of oxygen in pond, how to increase oxygen in the water, stress in fish because of low oxygen. Algal bloom and method of control, manual method and biological control. Application of lime in the pond, advantages of lime application, doses, litmus paper test. Composting of manure, amount and frequency of manuring depending upon the nutrient status, advice on quality and quantity of inorganic fertilizers, recycling of pond bottom nutrient. Fingerling stocking, time of stocking, size of stocking, stocking density, advantage of polyculture, different proportion for stocking. Need for feeding the fish, effects of environmental factors (like temperature, oxygen, over crowding), different type of artificial feeds, agricultural by-products. Sanitation and fish health, causes of fish health problem, Fish kill by weather conditions and depletion of oxygen because of algal bloom or bacterial bloom. Common fish disease, prevention and cure, method of treatment, chemical treatment through water, through feed or direct dipping, doses and frequency of treatment. Harvesting, different methods, time and duration of harvesting. Transportation and marketing. Economics of fish
culture |
|
|
|
|
The above course content can be modified for air breathing
fish culture. |
|
|
Location: |
Suitable paddy fields with rice cultivation and also after
harvesting and before the next paddy crop. |
|
|
|
|
Duration/Season: |
3 days for concurrent fish-rice cultivation and 3 days for
alternate fish-rice cultivation. |
|
|
|
|
Resource Person: |
Agricultural Scientist, Aquaculturist and Irrigation
Engineer. |
|
|
|
|
Clientele: |
Group of 20 rice cultivators and aquaculturists and
farmwomen. |
|
|
|
|
Method of Instruction: |
Demonstration and farmers involvement |
|
|
|
|
Course Content: |
Principle of rice-fish culture, paddy as a pasture ground for fish, role of fish in supply of oxygen and nutrient to paddy. Commonly occurring fishes in rice field, desirable species, their food and feeding habit Commonly occurring insects in rice field and their role and control. Preparation of rice field for raising of fish seed or undertaking fish culture. Strengthening of dykes/bunds, determination of width and height of bunds, level of water needed, construction of trenches, enclosures, water control structure, methods of manipulation of water level during and after weeding. Method of safe application of pesticides and fertilizers, measure to reduce the effect of pesticides and fertilizers, measures for protection from predators. Stocking of fry and fingerling, stocking density, duration of culture. Harvesting, packing and method of transport. Cost-benefit of seed rearing. Stocking fish seed for culture, desirable species, proportion and density, period of cultivation. Fabrication of suitable traps and gears, harvesting. Cost and
benefit of rice-fish culture |
|
Location: |
Integrated fish-livestock farm. |
|
|
|
|
Duration: |
Six days, 2 days initially and then field visits on different
occasion to see major management techniques |
|
|
|
|
Resource Person: |
Aquaculturist and Animal Husbandry Expert |
|
|
|
|
Clientele: |
Group of 10-15 Livestock farmers, small entrepreneurs, farm
women, aquaculturists and unemployed youth. |
|
|
|
|
Method of Instruction: |
Discussion and actual demonstration. |
|
|
|
|
Course Content: |
Principle of integrated fish-livestock farming. Relationship between different production sub-systems. Different methods and models of integration. Designs and construction of integrated fish farm. Selection of plants which should be cultivated in the farm and on pond embankment, their farming techniques. Construction of the birdhouse and pigsty. Faecal matters of pig and bird dropping. Plant and animal waste treatment, method of decomposition and composting. Preparation of the pond, selection of the fish species, stocking density and proportion of different species, their culture techniques. Depending on the nutrient status of soil and water the amount of organic manure required for fish culture and accordingly to determine the number of pig/birds to be raised on the embankment. Pig fattening and marketing. Duck/chicken rearing, egg
production and marketing. Vegetable/crop production and marketing. Fish
harvesting and marketing. Profitability of integrated fish farming. |
|
Location: |
Coastal farm, bheri or pokkali field. |
|
|
|
|
Duration/Season: |
4-5 days in the beginning and then one-day each for major
management techniques |
|
|
|
|
Resource Person: |
Aquaculture Engineer, Aquaculturist, and Extension
worker. |
|
|
|
|
Clientele: |
Group of 10-15 progressive aquaculturists and
entrepreneurs. |
|
|
|
|
Method of Instruction: |
Discussion and demonstration. |
|
|
|
|
Course Content: |
Principle of shrimp farming. Types of shrimp farming, (traditional, extensive, semi intensive and intensive). For traditional shrimp farming Improvement in management practices, preparation of field, water channels and other structure, sun drying, ploughing and leveling of the bottom. Liming for soil pH correction. Stocking, size/age of PL/density, maintenance of natural food, plankton production, control of disease and surveillance on shrimp health. Harvesting and post harvest handling of shrimps. Profitability of shrimp farming. For extensive system: Site selection, availability of good quality fresh and brackishwater, soil quality, land elevation, salinity, temperature, tidal amplitude. Design, construction and maintenance of farm pond. Pond preparation, cleaning of pond, eradication of predators, sun drying, ploughing and leveling of pond bottom. Liming for soil pH correction. Application of organic and inorganic fertilizers. Stocking, (size/age of PL/density). Pond management, aeration and change of water. Stock management and manipulation. Production of natural food, Artificial feeds and feeding, different types of feed, feeding rate and frequency. Water quality management, plankton bloom, water temperature, pH, control of disease and surveillance on shrimp health. Harvesting and post harvest practices. Economics of shrimp
farming |
Credit servicing is fairly organized for aquaculture with refinancing by NABARD, and financing by scheduled banks, rural banks, cooperative banks. The situation has improved considerably and poor farmers are now having access to credits. However, simplification of procedural mechanism to obtain credit in time is essential. Also to service more to the ladndless and resource poor farmers, policy needs to be evolved directly that the credit allocated for the fisheries sector should be advanced to rural aquaculture sector as a priority, and this should be done with lower interest rate for the poorer section of the fish farming community. However, it must be ensured that the farmers spend the money in activities for which the credit is obtained.
