Tunna Mishra used to work as an area manager head in a private fertiliser company in Chandigarh, around 150 miles from Delhi, the nation’s capital. The 49-year-old had no intention to return to Bangaon, his native village in Bihar, and was happily settled there before the Covid pandemic forced him to change his plans.
“I used to get a salary of Rs 50,000 ($597) and was staying there for nearly seven years. I was completely dejected, as I was jobless. I was sitting idle looking for work and came in contact with local fisheries officials who encouraged me to start fish farming. I started farming 3 acres in 2020 and stocked 5,000 juvenile Indian major carp: particularly rohu, mrigal and catla,” he recalls.
“I harvested them after four months and made a profit of Rs 80,000 ($955). The income encouraged me to do fish farming on a larger scale and I’m now farming 14 acres and earning a profit of around Rs 19 lakhs ($22,695) every year, which is far greater than what I made in my job. The pandemic has been a boon for me,” he adds.
Roshan Kumar Jha, who also lives in Saharsa district, quit his job as a computer engineer in a multinational company in Gurugram, near Delhi, and returned to his village in 2012. “I was paid around Rs 67,000 ($800) per month but I wanted to return to my village and do something of my own. I started farming 2 hectares but now have 10 hectares, with a production of 3-4 tonnes per hectare. The profit is ten times more than my previous salary. The produce has a huge demand in the local market,” he says.
Government support
Dr Tun Tun Singh, a lecturer at Bihar’s Fisheries Training and Extension Centre, said that the state has lot of potential for fish production, as there are lot of floodplains, wetlands and silted ponds that can be developed for fish farming. “The government is also planning to develop more juvenile production. Harnessing the untapped aquatic resources and their potential can not only help to make the state self-sufficient in fish production but can also play a pivotal role in generating employment, food and nutritional security, poverty alleviation and socio-economic growth,” he explains.
“Besides, the government is also bringing special schemes for renovation of oxbow lakes and lowlands for conservation, restoration and rehabilitation of endangered fish. The banks are offering low interest rates to help farmers towards fish farming. The local fish markets are being strengthened to increase the demand and also better transport connectivity and electricity is provided to farmers. But the changing climatic conditions like drought, floods along with disease outbreak and overexploitation of natural resources also remain key challenges,” he adds.
In 2022-23, Bihar’s total cultivable area stood at 93,217 hectares, with 29,821 ponds and tanks and 940,000 hectares of floodplain wetlands. There were reservoirs spread across 26,304 hectares, as well as 3,200 km of rivers and canals.
In 2023-24, fish production stood at 873,000 tonnes while demand is for 889,000 tonnes, and is growing at an annual growth rate of 3.17 percent. The average fish production in the state stands at 3 tonnes per hectare.
“We are very close to closing the gap between the demand and the supply and the collective efforts of the state government and farmers could help to soon achieve our goal. We already rank fourth in the list of fish production in the country,” said Dilip Kumar Singh, joint director of fisheries at the State Project Unit.
Bijay Kumar Paswan, fishery extension officer in Saharsa district, said that the state government has been offering subsidies under various schemes that have been encouraging people to shift towards fish farming.
“The state government has launched schemes in which it is offering huge subsidies to new farmers. The construction cost of two ponds is around 8.80 lakhs ($10,450) out of which the farmers are paid up to 70 percent subsidy. Besides, the government has also been offering similar huge subsides for the purchase of juveniles, hatchery renovation, aerators and installation of water pumps.”
However, farmers complain that they are suffering from power outages and poor road conditions.
“We are facing severe power cuts that affect the running of aerators in the farm ponds, raising the risk of mortalities. The situation of roads leading to our ponds is also bad, and it proves difficult for the traders who want to come and buy the fish from us. We have requested the officials to look into the matter but nothing has been done yet. We can play a major role in achieving the target of making the state self-reliant in fish production but the government should also help in improving the infrastructure facilities,” said one farmer.