Growing fish in tanks, farm ponds and percolation tanks using natural inputs, such as zero-based natural farming (ZBNF), has received a shot in the arm with the success of a pilot project in the Agency area of Visakhapatnam.
Some tribals in the Paderu ITDA took up fish culture between July and September last year. The 9.75 acres taken up in Paderu ITDA forms only a fraction of the 377 acres, with the Sitampeta ITDA accounting for a lion’s share of 313 acres, followed by Rampa Chodavaram ITDA.
NGO Watershed Support Services and Activity Network (WASSAN) geo-tagged the water bodies and provided technical guidance, actively involving other NGOs working in the area. In Paderu ITDA area, fish culture was taken up in 48 bodies involving 70 households. Fingerlings were provided with the support of the ITDA and the Fisheries Department.
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Vantala Nukaraju and 10 other families are among those who took up fish culture in September last year in a percolation tank dug under the MGNREGS at Adapavalasa in Dumbriguda mandal.
Following the ZBNF model, they used cattle manure and the organic ‘Jeevamrutham’ as feed.
The harvesting of the fish was done in the presence of Andhra Pradesh Rythu Sadhikara Samstha (RySS) Vice- Chairman and Advisor, Agriculture, T. Vijay Kumar early this week. The 10m x 10m tank yielded 22 kg of fish. Keeping half of it for consumption, the families sold the rest at ₹130 a kg.
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Mr. Vijay Kumar wanted the pilot project to be scaled up to 1,000 acres in ZBNF clusters with thrust on consumption by tribals themselves. He suggested taking up development of fish ponds by exploiting streams that criss-cross the Agency area.
Good source of income
With rain for seven months and average rainfall of 1,500 to 1,600 mm, an acre of water body could yield 300 to 400 kg of fish in a season resulting in good income for tribals, estimates WASSAN’s Technical Officer Bidya Bhushan.
“We have plans to take up semi-intensive or extensive fish culture in a total of 1900 acres in the three ITDA areas and Parvatipuram ITDA. Of the 1000 acres under ZBNF, 500 acres has already been identified and listed,” says WASSAN’s Programme Manager M.L. Sanyasi Rao. Fish culture is seen as another means of earning for tribals.
High mortality
Since the mortality rate of fingerlings is as high as 50% during transport, development of local enterprise is on the cards, he adds.
The effort of WASSAN is supported by other NGOs like Sanjeevini, Vikasa, SMILE, NATURE, Kovel Foundation, ARTS and CAVS.