A CASE STUDY:
Seed nursing by farmers of
Udaipur, South India
BY VIKASH KUMAR, CENTRAL INSTITUTE OF FISHERIES EDUCATION, MUMBAI, INDIA
CO-AUTHORED BY SUVRA ROY, DEBTANU BARMAN AND DEVANAND UCHOI
A
quaculture is fast developing in most of the
northeastern states of India owing to the high
demand for fish. Although the region has excellent
potential for aquaculture, this growth is not uniform
across all the northeastern states due to differing local
food habits.
Among the states in the region, Assam, Manipur and
Tripura have a large percentage of the population as well
as fish eating people, and it is important to recognise that
the literacy rate in most of the northeastern states is high
compared to the rest of the country.
With the increasing research evidence that demonstrates
the health benefits of eating fish, it is likely that the literate
people in rest of the states will also gradually increase their
intake of fish.
Through seed nursing carp – Labeo rohita, Catla catla,
Silver carp and Cirrhinus mrigala – the farmers of Udaipur
are able to make sufficient profit within a short period of
time and in this way seed nursing is gaining the attention
of many fish farmers.
In this case study, fish farmers of Udaipur, South Tripura,
India were observed to find out more about their seed
nursing practices and the marketing of the fish seed.
After two days 10 fingerlings are put into the pond to
ascertain the water condition, after another two days the
pond is harvested to see if the fingerlings have survived. The
farmer then uses cleaner to remove insects. After a further
two days netting is done and spawn is stocked in the number
of 150,000/0.16ha.
POST STOCKING MANAGEMENT
After stocking, three days are allowed to pass before
feeding the spawn and after a further three days a liquid
feed like Ostovet is used. After five days they begin feeding
with Mustard Oil cake. 15 days after the stocking of spawn
they are then transferred into another pond for better
growth. After almost 60 days of rearing the carp spawn
there is a survival rate of 150,000 from a total stock of
250,000/0.16ha.
POND PREPARATION AND STOCKING
The size of ponds used by farmers is generally small, with
some farmers having ponds with an area of up to 0.5 hectares,
others will have more than one pond.
Before the stocking of spawn, netting is performed several
times. After which poison, i.e. Endosulfan, is used to kill the
weed fishes.
The farmers then harvest the dead fish and sell them at the
market.Three days later the pond is limed @48kg/0.16ha.After
seven days they apply Potash (KMNO4) @ 250gm/0.16ha.
Potash is mainly used to reduce the effect of poison.
Common chemicals used by farmers
HARVESTING AND SELLING
Farmers harvest five to six times and sell five to six times
during the 60 day rearing period and in each harvesting they
spend around 200 rupees and engage six or seven labourers
Farmers netting
A man carrying bhar
with fish fingerlings
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NZ AQUACULTURE
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JULY/AUGUST 2013