Dr. Shivakumar Magada, Professor of Aquatic Biology, KVAFSU, Bidar, Karnataka, discusses about aquaculture, advanced technologies and systems that are available and practised in the country.
It is essential to understand the economics of agriculture, and only then it is possible to understand aquaculture better. In the last 65 years, India could increase its food production by 5 times despite cyclones, drought, and other issues. During the 1960s, we were depending on other countries for food imports, but now we are self-sufficient with regard to food production. But in spite of producing so much food, about 20 crore people are suffering from hunger, and 30 to 35 crores people are suffering from hidden hunger. So we have to increase the food production. Our target to produce 350 million tons of food products by 2025 is being supported by different schemes and initiatives to help the farmers by way of subsidy, soft loans and other things.
Though one can be happy that India is doing well in producing papaya, Jute, banana, mango, millets, and cotton, and cattle population, with all its vastness, the productivity is far less. When China is producing 40 tons of fish per hectare, we are producing only 4 to 5 tons. They get 8 to 9 tons of rice per hectare, while we get 5 to 6 tons. We have to work on productivity, understand the soil management, nutrient management, crop management, and disease management to increase production. We have initiated advanced farming, science based farming and started using advanced techniques in farming. Due to fragmentation of land, 85% of the farmers have less than 1.9 hectare, poor capital, no money, scarcity of labour, soil acidity, non-adoption of scientific pest and disease management, imbalanced nutrient application, micronutrient deficiency, lack of knowledge on value addition, scarcity of input, and wild life menace.
The other issues include migration of youngsters, middlemen etc. In 1960, about 73% of the people were engaged in agriculture which has now reduced to 49%. The scarcity of fodder for cattle is another issue. Looking at the scenario in India, I would say India has all the solutions for the problems, but we are yet to tackle them strategically. In many states of the country, the annual income is less than Rs. 17 thousand, and agricultural labour is richer than the farmer. It is not viable to go for mechanisation in small landholding and costly techniques. The people who do not work on agriculture claim that it is not viable without understanding the economics. In the last 10 years, more than 23 thousand acres of paddy lands have been converted into layouts and industrial activity as people deal with wrong data.
Aquaculture has various options to make your livelihood. You can buy fish with less amount as it would satisfy the nutritional requirement. We used to get seeds from Ganga and Brahmaputra and stock them in ponds, but they never had uniform growth, and they were affected by diseases. In 1957, the breeding of carps by Dr. Hiralal Chaudhuri revolutionised the industry producing millions of fish seed. We have vast areas with many reservoirs and coastal lines. Earlier we never used to stock them properly, and now we produce around 70 crore fish seed in 56 fish production centres, and we distribute them to farmers to cultivate them in reservoirs. We also started developing manure for the fish with cow dung, lime, single super phosphate, urea, and it increases natural food in the waterbody to feed the fish. Earlier people used rice bran for feeding fish, but now rice bran is being used for oil production. We have also started using aerators to get oxygen. Now we are using floating pellets for better utilisation. Advanced technologies like BFT, RAS, and IoT to measure water parameters on a continuous basis are being used. Our target now is to produce 22 million tons of fish, and the government program PMMSY helps the entrepreneurs approach the nearest department of fisheries and choose the schemes according to the requirement, and women and reserved categories get 60% subsidy while the others get 40%.
We have around 2200 species of fish, with 4.7 lakhs boats mechanised to continuously catch fish. As a result the number of fish is decreasing. Now people have understood the sustainable management of natural resources by giving a fishing ban during monsoon, increasing the mesh size, quota system. Fish is a good source of vitamin and protein, easily digestible cholesterol, Omega 3 fatty acid which is good for heart and brain. So many people in the coastal line and river side have started eating fish leading to their higher IQ. So it is essential that learned people come forward to take up agriculture and do scientific farming and producing more. We need to change our outlook, take the guidance of a guru for right decision, scale, spirit, for succeeding. We have to understand the scale of economy to prevent loss of money. We must know how to make use of technology. Processing fish may fetch more money. Fish culture is more economically viable than paddy, sugarcane, and other agriculture products. People are using 8 to 9 thousand litres for paddy, and the nutrients and fertilisers get drained and get accumulated in some other place which makes that place fertile. So we have to construct a pond so that the excess nutrient comes into the pond, and we can use the water when needed. If we have enough funds, we can think of a shrimp farming along the coastal line. We can use earthen or plastic line tanks, draw water from the sea, and of course it is a high risk and high profit business. The cost of production of shrimp is Rs. 200 per kg, but we can sell it for Rs. 350 to 400.
We can have floating cages to grow crabs, fatten them for 6 months, and sell for Rs. 1500 per kg. Many innovative methods such as using vertical boxes can be followed. We can take place for lease, and by giving a small royalty to the government, we can place the cage culture in natural water bodies. The most advanced farming system is IPRS where we can grow fish in high density, and in one sq. metre, we can produce 150 kg of fish to sell fresh. People have started using recirculatory aquaculture system to treat the water and reuse it. We can control diseases and improve water quality thus, but we can have only high value fish species here. Biofloc technology was developed by Israel. In Biofloc method, we can treat the water, by adding more carbon source, we can nullify the nitrogen and convert it into food. When we do not have water, we can go for advanced technologies. We can have a structure in the roof top and grow fish. We can go for plastic lining if the water is not holding in the soil. We can use electronic gadgets and control the feeder or switch on the motor from home. In Bangladesh and Myanmar, people have fish pond, grow fish and paddy, and they have converted their issues into opportunities. I have proposed to the government to have decent and branded outlets for selling fish. We can go for variety of fish species such as Katla, Tilapia, from brackish and marine water, and many more. We have to create our own market to earn more. We must know the right species to grow, size, combination, right feed, ration, water quality management, disease management, branding, marketing, use of counting bucket, value addition, and data management.
What are the key challenges faced by small scale fish farmers in adopting aquaculture practices?
Marketing small quantity of fish is the issue. We cannot compete with the big players. Farmers have to come up with innovative strategies to sell their produce in their vicinity by establishing contacts through WhatsApp and social media, giving advertisements, and sell their produce at good price than competing with already existing marketing channels. They can find their own unconventional marketing strategies. Otherwise middlemen will come in, bargain, and buy for less price. That is the only problem.
How does the sustainability of aquaculture impact local ecosystems and biodiversity?
Small aquaculture does not affect the environment and biodiversity as it adds value. When we construct a fish pond, it manages the problem of adjacent land by draining excess water, excess salt. The productivity of the adjacent land increases, and birds and other ecosystem develops around the pond. The larger farms along the coastal side are taking up the fish culture in saline area, and there they use artificial salts to maintain the salinity which may create problem in the long run. It may affect the soil fertility which will become unfertile. That is why fisheries and watershed department point out what should be the agriculture area. Punjab and Haryana have started following this method as earlier they were using lot of chemical fertilisers which made the soil saline and alkaline with increase in soil salinity and water salinity. They are using shrimp farming now. in such cases the land may become barren. So I suggest people to use plastic lining so that the inundation of salt will be reduced and sustainability maintained. We need food, and for social benefits, we are forced to ignore environmental issues. We have to strike a balance, and scientists also advise this.
What are the essential skills and training required for individuals interested in starting an aquaculture venture?
If we have interest and resources like water availability, we can meet the Department of Fisheries nearby, express the willingness to take up farming. By vising the website, we can get all the details f the schemes, initiatives, and understand the scheme. We have to know our strength, investment capacity, capability of handling the business and express the same to the nearest office. We can get trained from KVKs in each district, understand the facets of aquaculture and agriculture, and choose the activity depending on the capability. Bookish knowledge will not help us.
How does climate change impact the sustainability and viability of aquaculture project?
The individuals need not worry about the climate change. Because of the climate change, the rain pattern has also changed, schedule of fishes is disturbed and natural food production system is also disturbed. The egg laying capacity gets reduced, and also new diseases spread. The climate change is something connected to the policy maker. Whatever is admissible under the law, they will do. The urbanisation, pollution, and gadgets are the causes of climate change. We can reduce the usage and help in reducing the impact of climate change. We can plant more trees, and we can contribute to reduce the impact. We have to follow the accepted practices, guidelines of the government, not using plastic, and helping in less air pollution to contribute to reducing climate change impact.
What role does government policy play in supporting and regulating aquaculture industry?
Despite the vast resources in the country, we are producing only 16.14 MN tons of fish. The government has allocated a huge budge for enhancing the productivity of fisheries. People should take advantage of this scheme for fisheries and aquaculture. National Fishery Development Board at Hyderabad and KVKs are giving training, subsidies to set up to grow fish and set up ice plants, processing plants, refrigerated vehicles, modern outlets and bigger boats to go deeper into the sea to fish. We have to see the schemes and initiatives. The government is doing its best to improve fish productivity.
How does market demand and consumer preferences affect the choice of aquaculture species and products?
The fish produced in Andhra Pradesh goes to Northern India as they eat more fish. In the coastal areas, they do not prefer fresh water fish. The per capita availability in the country is 12.5 kg while the requirement is 20.3 kg. Because of huge demand, the country is also exporting 12.5 lakh tons f of fish and earning Rs. 65 thousand crores. So there is a huge demand for fish in both export and domestic market. The purchasing power of the people has increased in India, and people do not mind spending Rs. 600 or 800 to buy fish. For now, it is not saturated, but there is a huge gap between demand and supply. So people can jump into this. But since there is a demand, people will not buy our fish, we need to have better linkage and strategy to push our products in the market.
CONTACT:
Dr Shivakumar Magada
Professor Of Aquatic Biology
College of Fisheries,Mangalore
KVAFSU, Bidar
Email: shivakumarmagada@gmail.com
Telephone: 9945783906
It is essential to understand the economics of agriculture, and only then it is possible to understand aquaculture better. In the last 65 years, India could increase its food production by 5 times despite cyclones, drought, and other issues. During the 1960s, we were depending on other countries for food imports, but now we are self-sufficient with regard to food production. But in spite of producing so much food, about 20 crore people are suffering from hunger, and 30 to 35 crores people are suffering from hidden hunger. So we have to increase the food production. Our target to produce 350 million tons of food products by 2025 is being supported by different schemes and initiatives to help the farmers by way of subsidy, soft loans and other things.
Though one can be happy that India is doing well in producing papaya, Jute, banana, mango, millets, and cotton, and cattle population, with all its vastness, the productivity is far less. When China is producing 40 tons of fish per hectare, we are producing only 4 to 5 tons. They get 8 to 9 tons of rice per hectare, while we get 5 to 6 tons. We have to work on productivity, understand the soil management, nutrient management, crop management, and disease management to increase production. We have initiated advanced farming, science based farming and started using advanced techniques in farming. Due to fragmentation of land, 85% of the farmers have less than 1.9 hectare, poor capital, no money, scarcity of labour, soil acidity, non-adoption of scientific pest and disease management, imbalanced nutrient application, micronutrient deficiency, lack of knowledge on value addition, scarcity of input, and wild life menace.
The other issues include migration of youngsters, middlemen etc. In 1960, about 73% of the people were engaged in agriculture which has now reduced to 49%. The scarcity of fodder for cattle is another issue. Looking at the scenario in India, I would say India has all the solutions for the problems, but we are yet to tackle them strategically. In many states of the country, the annual income is less than Rs. 17 thousand, and agricultural labour is richer than the farmer. It is not viable to go for mechanisation in small landholding and costly techniques. The people who do not work on agriculture claim that it is not viable without understanding the economics. In the last 10 years, more than 23 thousand acres of paddy lands have been converted into layouts and industrial activity as people deal with wrong data.
Aquaculture has various options to make your livelihood. You can buy fish with less amount as it would satisfy the nutritional requirement. We used to get seeds from Ganga and Brahmaputra and stock them in ponds, but they never had uniform growth, and they were affected by diseases. In 1957, the breeding of carps by Dr. Hiralal Chaudhuri revolutionised the industry producing millions of fish seed. We have vast areas with many reservoirs and coastal lines. Earlier we never used to stock them properly, and now we produce around 70 crore fish seed in 56 fish production centres, and we distribute them to farmers to cultivate them in reservoirs. We also started developing manure for the fish with cow dung, lime, single super phosphate, urea, and it increases natural food in the waterbody to feed the fish. Earlier people used rice bran for feeding fish, but now rice bran is being used for oil production. We have also started using aerators to get oxygen. Now we are using floating pellets for better utilisation. Advanced technologies like BFT, RAS, and IoT to measure water parameters on a continuous basis are being used. Our target now is to produce 22 million tons of fish, and the government program PMMSY helps the entrepreneurs approach the nearest department of fisheries and choose the schemes according to the requirement, and women and reserved categories get 60% subsidy while the others get 40%.
We have around 2200 species of fish, with 4.7 lakhs boats mechanised to continuously catch fish. As a result the number of fish is decreasing. Now people have understood the sustainable management of natural resources by giving a fishing ban during monsoon, increasing the mesh size, quota system. Fish is a good source of vitamin and protein, easily digestible cholesterol, Omega 3 fatty acid which is good for heart and brain. So many people in the coastal line and river side have started eating fish leading to their higher IQ. So it is essential that learned people come forward to take up agriculture and do scientific farming and producing more. We need to change our outlook, take the guidance of a guru for right decision, scale, spirit, for succeeding. We have to understand the scale of economy to prevent loss of money. We must know how to make use of technology. Processing fish may fetch more money. Fish culture is more economically viable than paddy, sugarcane, and other agriculture products. People are using 8 to 9 thousand litres for paddy, and the nutrients and fertilisers get drained and get accumulated in some other place which makes that place fertile. So we have to construct a pond so that the excess nutrient comes into the pond, and we can use the water when needed. If we have enough funds, we can think of a shrimp farming along the coastal line. We can use earthen or plastic line tanks, draw water from the sea, and of course it is a high risk and high profit business. The cost of production of shrimp is Rs. 200 per kg, but we can sell it for Rs. 350 to 400.
We can have floating cages to grow crabs, fatten them for 6 months, and sell for Rs. 1500 per kg. Many innovative methods such as using vertical boxes can be followed. We can take place for lease, and by giving a small royalty to the government, we can place the cage culture in natural water bodies. The most advanced farming system is IPRS where we can grow fish in high density, and in one sq. metre, we can produce 150 kg of fish to sell fresh. People have started using recirculatory aquaculture system to treat the water and reuse it. We can control diseases and improve water quality thus, but we can have only high value fish species here. Biofloc technology was developed by Israel. In Biofloc method, we can treat the water, by adding more carbon source, we can nullify the nitrogen and convert it into food. When we do not have water, we can go for advanced technologies. We can have a structure in the roof top and grow fish. We can go for plastic lining if the water is not holding in the soil. We can use electronic gadgets and control the feeder or switch on the motor from home. In Bangladesh and Myanmar, people have fish pond, grow fish and paddy, and they have converted their issues into opportunities. I have proposed to the government to have decent and branded outlets for selling fish. We can go for variety of fish species such as Katla, Tilapia, from brackish and marine water, and many more. We have to create our own market to earn more. We must know the right species to grow, size, combination, right feed, ration, water quality management, disease management, branding, marketing, use of counting bucket, value addition, and data management.
What are the key challenges faced by small scale fish farmers in adopting aquaculture practices?
Marketing small quantity of fish is the issue. We cannot compete with the big players. Farmers have to come up with innovative strategies to sell their produce in their vicinity by establishing contacts through WhatsApp and social media, giving advertisements, and sell their produce at good price than competing with already existing marketing channels. They can find their own unconventional marketing strategies. Otherwise middlemen will come in, bargain, and buy for less price. That is the only problem.
How does the sustainability of aquaculture impact local ecosystems and biodiversity?
Small aquaculture does not affect the environment and biodiversity as it adds value. When we construct a fish pond, it manages the problem of adjacent land by draining excess water, excess salt. The productivity of the adjacent land increases, and birds and other ecosystem develops around the pond. The larger farms along the coastal side are taking up the fish culture in saline area, and there they use artificial salts to maintain the salinity which may create problem in the long run. It may affect the soil fertility which will become unfertile. That is why fisheries and watershed department point out what should be the agriculture area. Punjab and Haryana have started following this method as earlier they were using lot of chemical fertilisers which made the soil saline and alkaline with increase in soil salinity and water salinity. They are using shrimp farming now. in such cases the land may become barren. So I suggest people to use plastic lining so that the inundation of salt will be reduced and sustainability maintained. We need food, and for social benefits, we are forced to ignore environmental issues. We have to strike a balance, and scientists also advise this.
What are the essential skills and training required for individuals interested in starting an aquaculture venture?
If we have interest and resources like water availability, we can meet the Department of Fisheries nearby, express the willingness to take up farming. By vising the website, we can get all the details f the schemes, initiatives, and understand the scheme. We have to know our strength, investment capacity, capability of handling the business and express the same to the nearest office. We can get trained from KVKs in each district, understand the facets of aquaculture and agriculture, and choose the activity depending on the capability. Bookish knowledge will not help us.
How does climate change impact the sustainability and viability of aquaculture project?
The individuals need not worry about the climate change. Because of the climate change, the rain pattern has also changed, schedule of fishes is disturbed and natural food production system is also disturbed. The egg laying capacity gets reduced, and also new diseases spread. The climate change is something connected to the policy maker. Whatever is admissible under the law, they will do. The urbanisation, pollution, and gadgets are the causes of climate change. We can reduce the usage and help in reducing the impact of climate change. We can plant more trees, and we can contribute to reduce the impact. We have to follow the accepted practices, guidelines of the government, not using plastic, and helping in less air pollution to contribute to reducing climate change impact.
What role does government policy play in supporting and regulating aquaculture industry?
Despite the vast resources in the country, we are producing only 16.14 MN tons of fish. The government has allocated a huge budge for enhancing the productivity of fisheries. People should take advantage of this scheme for fisheries and aquaculture. National Fishery Development Board at Hyderabad and KVKs are giving training, subsidies to set up to grow fish and set up ice plants, processing plants, refrigerated vehicles, modern outlets and bigger boats to go deeper into the sea to fish. We have to see the schemes and initiatives. The government is doing its best to improve fish productivity.
How does market demand and consumer preferences affect the choice of aquaculture species and products?
The fish produced in Andhra Pradesh goes to Northern India as they eat more fish. In the coastal areas, they do not prefer fresh water fish. The per capita availability in the country is 12.5 kg while the requirement is 20.3 kg. Because of huge demand, the country is also exporting 12.5 lakh tons f of fish and earning Rs. 65 thousand crores. So there is a huge demand for fish in both export and domestic market. The purchasing power of the people has increased in India, and people do not mind spending Rs. 600 or 800 to buy fish. For now, it is not saturated, but there is a huge gap between demand and supply. So people can jump into this. But since there is a demand, people will not buy our fish, we need to have better linkage and strategy to push our products in the market.
CONTACT:
Dr Shivakumar Magada
Professor Of Aquatic Biology
College of Fisheries,Mangalore
KVAFSU, Bidar
Email: shivakumarmagada@gmail.com
Telephone: 9945783906