Climate Smart Aquaculture- Enhancing livelihood and nutrition in the ecologically vulnerable western districts of the state though Monosex Tilapia culture.

                        The red lateritic belt  comprising of 5 Western Districts i.e Purulia, Birbhum, Bankura, Paschim Medinipur and Jhargram are considered to be the most ecologically vulnerable belt in the state. The belt is characterised by soil profile with poor water holding capacity, deficit rainfall and wide range between maximum and minimum temperatures. 

   Large part of the belt are still rainfed due to unavailability of irrigation resulting in very low cropping intensity. Weather variability is further posing threat to the kharif season which is dominated by paddy, a staple food in the state.

     Transforming rainfed agriculture to irrigated undertaken by WBADMI Project has empowered the farmers not only to ensure their kharif cultivation but also to take up high value crops during Rabi. However, the high value crops which are predominantly vegetables also comes with higher production cost and distress sale. So in order to stabilise the income of the small and marginal farm holders, the diversification process has to be more extended . This has what been the driving force behind inclusion of fish farming in the project command areas. The all weather demand for various fish species in the local market has made fish farming a very lucrative economic activity particularly in areas with existing water bodies where lack of appropriate scientific practice had been giving very low yield. Promotion of technologies such as spawn to fingerling culture, Desi Magur Hatchery, Culture of Indian Major Carps(IMC), Small nutritional fish species, Prawn culture etc. through  community mobilisation and  intensive participatory methods thereafter has increased the per hectare farm return by more than 300%.in the project areas.

   Despite the reliability in fisheries to bring stability to the farm income,  the production as well as growth of many fish species are still susceptible to several elements of climate change such as temperature rise, erratic seasonal rainfall, water stress and extreme climatic events. The red lateritic agroclimatic zone prevalent in the western districts of Bengal experience all the above mentioned elements thus bringing the necessity of climate smart adaptation and mitigation strategies  to increase the resilience and adaptive capacity of communities as well as ecosystem. In this regard Climate smart adaptations such as use of tarpaulin/tank ponds, adjusting time of stocking and introduction of climate smart stocked fish species  are being emphasised from the project to upscale the adaptive capacities of the community in the project areas.

Tilapia are tropical freshwater fish very tolerant to temperature upto 41-42 °C in which the other fish species such as the Indian Major Carps (IMC) exhibits decreased growth. The consequence of this decreased growth is that it would take a longer time to reach a harvestable size and require more food. Tilapia due to its adaptability to high temperature reach its harvestable size within 4 months. Moreover,  Tilapia culture is also bringing a social and economic standing of women thus enhancing the gender inclusiveness in accessing to the incremental benefits.
  
    

                                  

       

Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime -A success story from Birbhum

If you give a man a fish he is hungry again in an hour. If you teach him to catch a fish you do him a good turn. This proverb seems to be holding good in Mouza cum village Ranigram in Northen part of Rajnagar Block of Birbhum district. The place abounds in water bodies and 32 ponds and tanks of 1.5 bigha and larger sizes are now being used to irrigate crops, rear livestock, and provide much needed drinking water to the communities. The water bodies are also being used to breed fishes, a rich source of nutrition for the households and an alternate livelihood option for the rural households. With a daily demand of around eight quintals of fish in the nearby market of Sainthia, over 60 percent of which is sourced from outside, the potential of this activity to enhance local incomes is enormous.

FFS mode of training for FIG members

 Things were not like this till a few years ago. These water bodies were mostly seasonal in nature and used to dry up during the summers. The change was ushered in through the construction of a check dam on the river Bakreswar during 2014-15 under WBADMIP. This was followed by establishing the minor irrigation scheme to enhance the productivity of agricultural crops. A fisheries scheme has now been initiated to demonstrate its potential through composite fish culture comprising six species in a perennial water body of three bighas with an average water depth of five feet. Named Mayra bundh, this reservoir was established in March 2016 with an expenditure  of         INR 114,800.  

During release (March, 2016)		At present (26th Aug, 2016)
Catla	30gm	650-700gm
Silver carp	50gm	800-1250gm
Rohu	30gm	350-500gm
Grass carp	40gm	800-1500gm
Mrigel	20gm	250-350gm
Common carp	25gm	400-750gm

Prior to this intervention under WBADMIP, the productivity of fish in the village was around 7-8q/ha a year which now has nearly doubled. The project provided around 4,000 fingerlings of good size, weight and sound health. The productivity was enhanced by following scientific practices of management of fish-feed and water quality. Mobilization and building capacities of the local communities through the FFS played a critical role in this. Regular monitoring by PPP Mr. Tirtha Bhattacharya and specialist Mr. Durgesh Kumar contributed to the success of this initiative.

Reaping the benefits

The local communities have participated in this change and are now raising the bar for the coming season – increase productivity to 25 quintals from this water body. They also are improvising their approach to deal with a fresh challenge in the form of mortality of silver carp, which is a surface habitat fish. Since medical remedies for solving this problem was not available locally, trial and error led to the discovery that application of lime reduces the mortality rate! This is a fine example of learning by doing which has been fostered by the project. The news of the success of fish culture is spreading fast and neighbouring villages are now interested to learn from the lessons in Mouza. It is expected that this initiative led by the change makers in the village will have soon expand to other areas across the district.

Success story in Fish Cultivation from Purulia

Introduction:

Involvement of tribal farmers in aquaculture activities such as composite carp culture can play a crucial role in their socio-economic development. Appropriate extension programme through capacity building, motivation and adoption of scientific technology can help tribal farmers in taking up aquaculture in a sustainable way. However the scientific fish culture among the tribes is still in its nascent stage in Purulia district despite having good availability of seasonal (with minimum of 6 month water retention capacity) and/or perennial water. There are several constraints, which serve as major reasons behind the poor fish production in these tribal villages, such as, non-availability of desired quality and quantity of fish seed, absence of organized marketing and lack of knowledge among farmers about updated tools and modern practices. All these factors not only hamper fish production, but also deprives the beneficiaries from the economic benefit . 

One of the major objective of Agricultute Support System under WBADMIP is to disseminate useful and practical information. One good way to do this is through well-planned and carefully-conducted demonstrations. On-farm demonstrations serve as one of the most effective Extension education tools ever developed.

Although complete demonstrations require considerable time and effort, the payback comes when beneficiaries more readily adapt practices they perceive to be appropriate under local conditions. This is known as “seeing is believing.” And the beneficiaries who observe demonstrations of the latest techniques or practices and then apply them to their own particular situations are our present and future progressive farmers.

 Going by the above words, project officials after a thorough survey and meeting with local villagers, decided to adopt a local pond named Salkar Bundh as demonstration centre to display the benefits of carp culture through composite farming. 

 Status of Salkar Bundh before, during and after intervention by WBADMIP, Purulia

  

                     

           Before adoption,  the average productivity of the  pond was 350 kg ha-1 and  the farmers mostly used stock mixed seeds of Indian Major Carps (Catla,  Rohu & Mrigala). Fish seed of  1.5-2 cm size fry were stocked at an average density of 5000-6000 per hectare . Surprisingly, there was no previous account of using critical inputs in the pond which has been one of the reason for poor productivity.          
Under the new composite culture, Fingerlings (10-12 cm) of Catla, Rohu, Mrigala, Silver carp, Grass carp and Common carp were stocked at the ratio of 1.5 : 2 : 2 : 1 : 1.5 :2 with an average stocking density of 10000-12000 fingerlings per hectare.                                                          

   The FIG members were given on site training on freshwater aquaculture emphasizing on importance of removing aquatic weeds and predatory fishes, pond preparation, liming, stocking, manure application, supplementary feeding, health care, harvesting etc which previously they were unaware of.

           Under post-stocking care of fishes, the beneficiaries were taught about the importance of  organic manure and inorganic fertilizer in augmenting the phytoplankton production. About 35% crude protein containing pelleted supplementary fish feed was given @ 2-3% of the estimated biomass. Depending on the water quality, lime was applied as per requirement. Periodic sampling was done to monitor fish health status. . Critical inputs like fish seed, lime, feed and fertilizers were provided to the groups as a part of hand holding support.

Inputs during demonstration based share percentage as per variable cost of materials used.

                
 By putting use of new practice learnt in the WBADMIP training, FIG members could get a total production of 2805 kg of fish  which is more than 700 % increase than the traditional practice they used to adopt previously. They earned 322575 INR(Rs 115/kg average price) against an input expenditure of 100216 INR just within seven months which is making aquaculture one of the most profitable agriculture activity in recent times.The success in fish farming has given not only the FIG members a new found confidence but it is also bringing a ray of hope for other small and marginal farmers who are desperately looking for an alternative and more lucrative agriculture activities.                                             

   

            

    

                                   

Shifting focus from traditional fishery to aquaculture: Birbhum District

                          The inland fisheries resources of India include a length of 0.17 million km rivers and canals, 2.05 million ha of reservoir area, 2.86 million ha area of ponds and tanks and 0.8 million ha of beels, oxbow lakes and derelict water. Two decades back most of the inland fish production was obtained in the capture fishing mode, concentrated along rivers, reservoirs and lakes. Traditional fishing communities engaged in capture fishery. But, the fish production from natural waters like rivers, lakes, canals, etc., followed a declining trend, primarily due to proliferation of water control structures, indiscriminate fishing and habitat degradation (Katiha 2000). Over the years, there has been a shift in focus from capture fisheries in open water bodies like rivers and lakes to intensive freshwater aquaculture in village water bodies across the country. Aquaculture in villages in India, in general, is practiced with low to moderate levels of inputs, especially organic-based fertilizers and feed. (Courtesy: www.indiawaterportel.org)

WBADMIP initiatives:

Dadpur Light Duty Tubewell, Birbhum

WBADMIP included fishery under its Agriculture Support System in the year 2014 in seven districts of West Bengal namely Jalpaiguri, Birbhum, Bankura, Bardhaman, Paschim Midnapore, Purulia and Darjeeling. The main objective is to create livelihood opportunities from the village water bodies and strengthening of small and marginal farmers. The support envisages increasing the income of the farmers in the project villages where the Minor Irrigaion Schemes of WBADMIP are implemented. The Fishery activities are operated by Fishery Interest Groups (FIG) and its members are mostly selected by its parent body i.e Water User Association (WUA). WUAs are formed to institutionalize the community based activities associated with the Maintenance, Operation and Management (MOM) of Minor Irrigation schemes (Check Dams, Pump Dug Wells, Water Detention Structure, Tube Wells etc) in an area.

Fish harvesting demonstration in Dadpur:

As a part of the project activities, A Fish harvesting event was carried out in Dadpur demonstration pond of Birbhum District on 22^nd of April’16 in the presence of ADMI project officials, local villagers and members of the concerned Fishery Interest Group. The objective of the event was to acquaint the Fishery Interest Group (FIG) members with scientific fish harvesting techniques and to showcase the harvesting results to promote adoptions. During the demonstration, the FIG members maintaining the pond( with a water area of around 2600 m²) informed that they are expecting an  yield of around 1800-1900 kg of fish in the current season . ^. However, they also expressed the need of quality drag net to bring efficiency in harvesting operations and also to facilitate monthly netting exercise to check the growth and health of the fishes. 

Furthermore, it has been observed that the village posses a good potential for developing it in a cluster approach as there are 11 ponds covering water area of approximately 3 hectares with good availability of fresh water. By doing so, villagers can be engaged in fish farming thus minimizing the threat of poaching and poisoning of fishes out of jealousy, which otherwise is a common social problem in the area. After the demonstration, many participants were seems to be keen to adopt the modern tools and techniques demonstrated by the experts with hand holding support initially .Encouraged by this overwhelming response, the fishery team of Birbhum district has decided to organize a village level meeting in this regard to work out the modalities for cluster formation and to carry out the necessary documentation process with a clear outline on the percentage share contribution to be made from the project as well as from the beneficiaries. A commitment will also be sought from the beneficiaries to carry forward the program as per the technical guidance and directions from the project.

The FIG members would be able to collect a quantity of 200 kg of fish in a single harvest by adopting the techniques demonstrated to them and also be able to fetch a good price in the nearby Suri market with an  increase in 20-25% profit margins. Looking at the success, there is a proposal to provide thermocol boxes to the FIG members from the Project to minimize loss during transportation. These boxes are cost effective, widely used by commercial fish growers and will also be helpful during harvesting to keep the net floating above water level to check the fishes escaping over the net.

With an input cost of 70,000 INR , Fishery Coordinator from the Project Dr. Chayan Roy is projecting a gross return of around 130,000 INR thus bringing a net return of 200,000 INR approx. to the Fishery Interest Group just over a period of 9 months.