A landless farmer's success story in fish farming

Sonipat, Mar 17 (UNI) A landless farmer of Rohat, about seven kilometers from here on the Rohtak road, is a happy man as he is earning a respectable livelihood by catching fish from the ponds leased out to him by the panchayat.

With the kind of technical training that this landless farmer, Krishan has received from the Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA), he is confident of competing with others and making a decent livelihood out of fish farming.

Rohat village has a few ponds that serve a number of purposes for the village life. Three such ponds were leased out to Krishan in the year 2002 on a yearly rental of Rs 2200 for a period of seven years.

Krishan like many in the rural areas was willing to try his hand at anything that would have given him a livelihood. Intially despite the efforts he put in he never got the desired results.

However, things changed when the Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) of the fisheries department took Krishan under its wings. He was imparted intensive training in fish farming which helped Krishan.

This landless farmer is now taking care of his family from the income generated by fish farming. One of his ponds is in an area of 1.5 hectares and by farming fish as per the advice of ATMA he was able to save about Rs one lakh last year.

By putting use of new technology learnt in the ATMA training, Krishan found that more than one crop could be harvested in a year as the growth of the fish was faster. Last year, the first after adopting the techniques of ATMA, he harvested 60 quintal of fish that he sold for Rs 1.5 lakh.

He did not have to spend more than Rs 50,000 of the fish seed and feed and at the end of year he was able to put Rs one lakh in his pocket. He had the advantage of getting all the assistance from the Fishery Department.

With the help of the departmet he monitors the health and growth of his fish and often seeks the support of experts not only for netting but also maintaining the correct oxygen levels in the pond.

The success in fish farming has given not only Krishan a new found confidence but also his illiterate father who helps guard one of the ponds. Krishan might be landless but he now knows that he need not migrate from his village in search of employment to the cities.

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