A.S. Ninawe
Adoption of composite fish culture technology with less land holdings has been a serious constraint, which compelled many farmers to go for fish based mixed farming in several states of India. Integration of fish farming with agriculture, animal husbandry and horticulture has been practiced in India as an alternate for better utilization of water and organic waste recycling. The organic wastes from the animal husbandry are used for pond water fertilization and natural fish food production, whereas water from ponds is used for managing animal husbandry operations. The integration of other farming systems with agriculture though certainly not solve all the problems faced by rural farmers, its sustainable farming system in an integrated manner provides short and medium term relief to poor and small landholders. Illustrated below is a case of a farmer from Punjab, who has successfully integrated fish farming with other farm enterprises.
Sardar Darshan Singh with his joint family inherited 7 acres of agricultural land at his native village, Bhagwanpura in district Ludhiana of Punjab. The holding was too small to support a large family. He shifted to village Hiyatpura and acquired 9 acres of barren land along river Sutlej in 1969. The flood prone area called ‘Bet’ in Punjabi used to be inhibited by wild boars, jackals, deers and snakes etc., besides a host of other animals/birds. By virtue of his hard labour and untiring efforts, he converted this fallow land into a highly productive farm. Sardar Darshan Singh adopted a technology of carp culture integrating various operations of dairy, poultry, piggery, around fishponds, demonstrated by Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) at Ludhiana, Centre of CIFA Institute,
To reduce the cost of production, other components like agriculture and agro-forestry were also integrated. Organic wastes were recycled. For example, excreta, wastes from the poultry and press mud (sugar factory waste) were mixed with the feed for the pigs. The excreta of pigs inturn was used in fish farming, wherein it was either directly consumed by the fish (common carp) or acted as an organic fertilizer resulting in good growth of natural food organisms for the fish. The use of press mud in the feed for pigs and fish drastically reduced the cost of feed. The cost of production in this system worked out to half a dollar per kg of fish.
There have been a lot of benefits apart from the revenue from fish sale. With the use of pressmud, Sardar Singh has brought a radical change in the management of water and stocks. This has been possible by designing a semi flow-through system, which allows stocking of fish at much higher densities. In this system, bore well water is made to pass through the culture ponds. From bottom of the last/ penultimate pond, water is used through gravitational flow to irrigate wheat/ paddy and other crops This helps in maintaining higher dissolved oxygen levels and removal of left over feed/ fish excreta. Also, the enriched pond water supplies the plant nutrients when irrigated to crops, thus reducing expenditures towards crop manuring by more than 30%. Additionally, pond dikes are being used for growing seasonal vegetables, fodder and poplars, which results in an additional income of around 200 US$/ acre/ annum. Thus, by adopting integrated approach in aqua-farming, there is optimum utilisation of waste and space.
Since, growth of fish is adversely affected in Punjab during winter (mid Nov.-mid March), it is a common practice to drain, dry and renovate ponds during winter. As such, most ponds remain unutilized for more than 3-4 months. Sardar Singh has developed a sequential system of growing Toria (Brassica olevacea) and Mustard (B. campestrias) – short duration oil seed crop on the dried pond bed during winter. The crop is irrigated using sprinklers but no fertilizers/manures are applied since cumulative deposition of fish excreta and leftover feed makes soil, very rich in nutrients. This generates an additional income of about 350 US$ per hectare besides amelioration of pond bottom. Besides being a successful farmer, Sardar Singh is also an innovator. He has designed a straw reaper and a fish feed dispenser for uniform distribution of feed without wastage. His scientific and innovative farming, has been recognized by various institutions and organizations and Punjab University.
To conclude, the availing of synergistic benefits of true integration will require recycling of nutrients and other resources within and from enterprise to enterprise. The packages of practices for fish-cum-dairy, fish-cum-pig, fish-cum-duck, fish-cum-poultry and fish-cum-agriculture farming systems have been successfully developed and verified extensively for economic viability and feasibility at the farmer’s level. Recognizing aquaculture as a commercial entrepreneurship, the system can be adopted by carrying out suitable modifications and/ or developing location specific technologies suitable in different agro-climatic regions, where water resources, healthy stocks of animals and agricultural land are available. The sustainable integrated fish based mixed farming, being remunerative, can, therefore provide livelihood as well as generate employment.
References:
- Singh, C. 5., 2002, Fisheries based integrated farming system. Fishing chimes, Vol. 22(1), April
2002 issue, pp 146.
- Singh Hardial, 2002, A highly integrated fish farming system in Punjab: A case study. (Abstract No.4, pp 48) Proceedings of Second Indian Fisheries Science Congress held at Bhopal during 23-25 October 2002 organized by Indian Society of Fisheries Professionals, Mumbai, India
A. S. Ninawe, Director, Department of Biotechnology, 6-8’h floor, Block-2, CGO Camplex, New Delhi-ll0003
