Optimal Size of Fish Pond for Socio-Economical Development of Cachar (Assam)S.Sarkar1,AvinashKumar1,DeepakKumar2*,L.NSethi1, M.MHazarika1and G.Das1

1Department of Agricultural Engineering, Triguna Sen School of Technology, Assam University, Silchar, Assam, India.2Department of Hydrology, IIT Roorkee, Roorkee-247667, Uttarakhand, India.*Corresponding author: deepak.civil.iitdelhi@gmail.com

Paper No. 332 Received: 12 September 2015 Accepted: 26 May 2015 Published: 29 June 2015

Abstract

AquacultureisoneofthemainsourcesoflivelihoodofthestateofAssaminthenortheastofIndia.Inthisstudy,CachardistrictofAssamhasbeenselectedtostudyandassesstheimpactofvarioussizesoffishfarmontheeconomicconditionoffarmers.Thestudywasconductedinthevillagesof5blocksnamelyBorjalenga,Tapang,Narsingpur,SonaiandPalonghatwithanobjectivetosuggestoptimumsizeofthepondandanalyzetheproductionrateofdifferenttypeoffishfarm.Thedatawascollectedfrom around 169 farmers by the principle of participatory rural appraisal amethod used by non-governmentalorganizations.Mostofthefarmersarenotmucheducatedandmostofthemlivedbelowpovertyline.Thenumberofmediumsizeponds(0.5to1hectare),andsmallfarmponds(between0.3to0.5hectare)arehighestfollowedbyverysmall(lessthan0.3hectare)andthenlargesizeponds(morethan1hectare).Inthestudyarea,bothexcavatedandembankmenttypepondexist.Theresultsindicatethatevenwithpossessionofsmallandmediumsizefishfarms,betterannualproductionrateoffishcanbeachievedbybettermanagementpractices.83%ofallfishfarmsinCachardistrictareverysmall,smallormediumsizefishfarms.Only17%ofthefarmsareoflargesize.Theannualproductionisremarkablygoodforsmallandmediumsizefarms.Theresultsindicatethatsmallandmediumfarmsizeshavebetterannualproductionratethanotherfarms.Thus,smalltomediumfarmsareeconomicallymoreviablefortheCachardistrict.

Highlights

• Cachardistricthasbeenselectedforoptimalstudyoffishpond.• Thestudyisbasedonsocio-economicconditionoffishfarmers.• Thefishfarmhasbeendividedinsmall,mediumandlargesizeponds.• Theresultsrevealthatsmalltomediumsizepondsisoptimalpondsize.

Keywords: FishFarm,Cachar,pondsize,aquaculture,participatoryruralappraisal

Fisheries play an important role in the economyof India in augmenting food supply, generatingemployment,raisingnutritionallevelandinearningforeign exchange. Fishes are invariable livingcomponents of water bodies. These organisms are

important food resources and good indicators oftheecologicalhealthofthewatertheyinhabit.Fishfarminginvolvesraisingfishcommerciallyintanksor enclosures, usually for food. Aquaculture hasbeena fast-growing industrybecauseofsignificant

AGRICULTURE EXTENSION

International Journal of Agriculture, Environment and BiotechnologyCitation: IJAEB: 8(2): 405-411 June 2015DOI Number: 10.5958/2230-732X.2015.00048.0©2015 New Delhi Publishers. All rights reserved

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increasesindemandforfishandseafoodthroughouttheworld.Itisgrowingmorerapidlythananyothersegment of the animal culture industry. In manyparts of Asia, small-scale, low input aquaculturetechnologies are seen as an important tool forimproving food security, especially in areaswherethereisashortageoffreshfish(MarutaniandBrown2014, Salama and Murray 2011). In Bangladesh,several projects have been undertaken to assistfarmer adopt fish culture in smallwater bodies inandaroundtheirhomesteads(Beltonet al. 2012).

ThestateofAssamcoversabout30percentof theNorth Eastern Region of India, which has an areaof 78438 km2 and is located between 21.570°N –29.30°N latitude and 89.460E – 97.30°E longitude.Rice and fish are the two basic items in the dietof the Assamese people. For 95% of them, fish isan important protein rich food. Assam currentlyproducesabout159000tonsoffishfromallsourcesannuallyasagainstanestimatedannualdemandof250000tons.Thedemandisestimatedtoincreaseto320000 tons in thenear future.The state ofAssaminnorth-eastern Indiahasanexcellent sub-tropicalclimate for the development of fresh water fishculture in a variety of aquatic bodies.AquaculturenotonlyplaysanimportantroleinnutritionbutalsointheruraleconomyoftheState.

For better understanding of the fish cultivationat a place, it is important to have a survey of thatplace.Theoutcomeofthistypeofsurveysometimessuggests very important information about theeconomicstatusoffarmersinthat locality(Zalkuwet al. 2014). For example to understand the impactofdifferent typeoffish cultivationon the farmer’seconomiccondition,itisimportanttohaveasurvey.Inthepastfewyears,lotofresearchhasbeendoneforruralIndiawhichisentirelybasedonsurveyofan area. Goswami et al. (1999) reported about fishfarmingthroughcommunityparticipationinAssam.Thestudywasdoneforfishcultureinthecommunitytank in Lahkimpur district and five villages ofDarang district, Assam during January-July 1999throughpersonalinterviewsinfivevillagesinvolvedin fish culture. The community tank development

program, culture practices and their impact onsocioeconomicdevelopmentwerealsostudied.Theysuggestedthatcommunitytankshavethepotentialfor increasing fish production through communityparticipatoryfishculture.DasandGoswami(2002)has studied on the present status of fish culturebeing practiced by the rural farmers. Study wasconductedinfourvillagesoftwodistrictsofcentralAssam,viz.,NagaonandMorigaon.Asfishculturein the smallponds canbeoperatedwith resourcesavailablewithin the family, therewas an excellentopportunityforthedevelopmentofsmall-scalefishcultureenterprise (AguadoandRuiz2012,Masterset al. 2013,Zhao et al. 2013).AnattemptwasmadebyDas(2002)tointroducethefarmers’participatorysmall-scale aquaculture extension program in thevillages of the Amsoi area in Nagaon district ofAssam, under an innovative scheme of theAssamRuralInfrastructureandAgricultureServiceProject(ARIASP,WorldBank)forthreeyearsstartingfrom1998.Theprimaryobjectivesofthispilotprojectwereto develop appropriate technologies for the targetcommunityand to createa farmer-basedextensionsystem.

Further, Hortle (2007) reported a regional studygivingoverviewofproductionlevels,consumptionlevelsoffisheries.Descriptivestatisticswereusedinmethodologiesasthedata’swerecollectedfromover20differentsurveys.Jahanet al.(2010)collecteddatafrom 225 farmers in 2001-05 for the Developmentof Sustainable Aquaculture Project (DSAP) tocalculate the impactofaquacultureprojectsonfishconsumption (using a before/after, with/withouttrial), calculated in termsofannualper capitafish.They also made calculations for the consumptionofotherfoodstuffs,andrecordthetypesoffishthatare consumed.Allison (2011) collected the data ofrelationshipbetweenexporttradeandnationalfishprotein supply (notmicro-nutrients) fromFAO forthe year of 1976-2007.Dey andAhmed (2005) andJahan et al. (2010) conducted the micro-studies onpro-aquaculture projects to improve incomes andconsumption for participant households on theirrespectedcountries.Beneet al.(2003,2009)andItamet al. (2014)conductedmicro-levelstudiesrevealing

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theextenttowhichpoorergroupsparticipateinandbenefit from fisheries or aquaculture. They used aGinidecompositionexerciseandcollected thedataby their own survey. They collected data from 43fishingcampsbyconductingsurveys,interviewsandgroup discussions. It includes records of peoples’incomesandexpendituresinthepreviousyear.Theyusedstatisticaltests(ananalysisofvarianceandpairwisemultiplecomparison)todeterminecorrelationsontheroleoffisheriesparticularlyregardingincomegeneration.

Stanley et al. (2003), reported about the economiceffects of fisheries on shrimp. Study conducted byStanley et al. (2003)wasmainly based on nationalhousehold survey; Stanley’s methodology was aqualitativeapproachonacountryspecificbasisandisseenasthebestoptionforappraisingaquaculture’scontributiontoaregionaleconomy.

Likewise, Olasunkanmi (2012) reported about theeconomic analysis of fish farming in Osun State,South-Western Nigeria. The data were collectedfrom seventy two randomly selected fish farms.Datawereanalyzedusingdescriptivestatistics,costsandreturns,aswellasmultipleregressionanalysis.Chakravarttyet al.(2012)workedonthefishdiversitywith special reference to the classified ornamentalfishes and their prospects in the Kapla Beel ofBarpetaDistrict.Deyet al.(2005)conductedstudiesofdisaggregatingconsumptionoffishatthenationallevel across different income groups and differentspeciesoffishes. Inmethodology, theyusedmulti-commoditymodel, three-stage budgeting network,quadratic almost ideal demand system (QUAIDS)model, regression analysis, Duncan’s MultipleRangeTest(DMRT).Aigaet al. (2009)studiedaboutthecontributionofsmall-scalefisheriestoreducingmalnutrition.

Despite the vast aquatic resources,Assam has notbeenabletoproduceamplefishtocatertotheneedsof its ever increasingpopulation.Assam’s share ofthetotalinlandfishproductioninIndiais6.55%.The

sizeofafishfarmplaysaveryvitalroleindecidingtheincomeofafarmer.Inthisstudy,anoptimalfishfarmsizehasbeendeterminedonthebasisoftotalfishproductioninthefarm.

Materials and Methods

This section deals with the study area (location,climate, geographical area, status of fishery),questionnaire,procedureofdatacollectionandtheirstatisticalanalysis.

TheCachardistrictissituatedinthesouthernpartofIndianstateofAssam.Thetotalgeographicalareaofthedistrictis3,786Sq.Km.Thedistrictliesbetween92°24’Eand93°15’Elongitudeand24°22’Nand25° 8’ N latitude 35meters abovemean sea level.Total population ofCachar district is 17, 36,319 asperCensus2011.Averagedensityis459persq.km.ThelocationofCachardistrictisshowninFigure1.

Figure 1. Cachar District Map

Thedistinguishingfeatureof theclimateofCachariscopiousrainfallbetweenMarchandMay.Cachardistrict receives an average annual rainfall of 3000mminayear.Climateofthevalleyisgenerallyhot

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and humidwith temperature ranges from 100C to150Cduringwinterseasonand350Cto400Cduringsummer season with the relative humidity 92 to98 percent. The area is characterised by tropicalmonsoon climate having three distinct seasonsviz., summer (March-May), Rainy season (June-September) and winter. Towards the mid Aprilrain clouds starts covering the skyline. Cachar isfrequently inundated due to excessive rainfall andfloodingbytheriverBarak.Inthelastthreedecades,CacharandtheBarakValleyhavebeenravagedbythreemajor floods in 1986, followed by the one in1991,andmorerecentlyin2004.GeographicalareaofCachardistrictis3,786Sq.Km.Total21,516hectaresoflandareusedforfishfarminginthisdistrict.Fishfarmingisthesecondimportantsourceoflivelihoodof cachar district. The fishermen in Cachar havefailedtomeetthetargetoffishproductionthisfiscal.Asperthedistrictfisheriesdevelopmentofficer,totalpopulationoffishermenisabout1.5Lakh.Womensalso have a large contribution in this occupation(Ranfu et al. 2010).However, they able to produceonly21,500tonnesoffishperyearfromthedifferentwaterbodies,includingtheBarakriver,whereastheannualdemandareestimatedat36,000tonnes.Morethan 165 kinds of fishes are found in Assam. Allthe species are not cultivated commercially, Somespecieslike;Ilish,chital,kandhuli,balisonda,puthi,mirika, bhangone, nara, rau, common carp, grasscarp,silvercarp,bigheadcarp,singorah,arii,barali,magur, thilandmagur, singhi,goroi, cheng,kuchia,shol, sal, japani kawai, kholihona are cultivatedcommerciallyinCachar.

Data collection

SurveywasconductedinfiveblocksofCachardistricttocollecttheinformationrelatedtothefishfarmingpattern.Thefollowingstepswereundertakenforthedata collection. First of all five main fish culturedblocks,whicharenearbyAssamUniversitySilchar,wereidentifiedwiththehelpofdistrictfisheryofficer.Thereare15blocksinCachardistrictnamelySilchar,Salchapra, Tapang, Udarbond, Sonai, Borkhola,Kalain,Katigorah,Banskandi,Binnakandi,Lakhipur,Rajabazar, Narsingpur, Borjalenga, Palonghat.

Fishfarmingiscarriedoutalmostinalltheblocks.However, Tapang, Narsingpur, Sonai, BorjalengaandPalonghatwereindentifiedasfiveextensivefishcultured blocks, nearby Assam University Silchar.A setofquestionnairewas formedanddistributedamongthefarmerstocollectthedatarelatedtofishfarming.Thequestionnairecontainstheinformationrelated to the livelihood of farmer, technical andeconomicalaspectoffishfarmingpattern.

Aprinciple ofParticipatoryRuralAppraisal (PRA)wasadoptedduringthevisitindifferentblocks.Thehighestfishproducersasperthequestionnaireandwith the consultation of the GramMukhya in theselected blocks were also identified. ParticipatoryRural Appraisal is an approach used by non –governmental organizations and other agenciesinvolved inruraldevelopment.Theapproachaimsto incorporate the knowledge and opinions ofrural people in the planning and management ofdevelopmentprojectsandprogramsfundedby theGOIoranyprivateinstitutions.Documentationandanalysis of fish farming pattern of Cachar districtwere carried out based on information collectedfrom170farmersof20villages.Alltheanalysiswerecarriedoutbasedonthetypeoffishponds,structureof thefishponds, sizeof thefish farms,volumeofthefishponds,varietyoffish culture, seeding rateandproductionrateineachfishfarm,sizeandrateofsellingfordifferenttypesoffishesindifferentfishfarms,numberofculturecyclesadoptedbythefishfarmers in a year, total expenditure and profit foreachfishfarm.

Further volume of fish pond can be calculated byequation(1):

...(1)

Where, isthevolumeofthepond, isthe

surfaceAreaofthepond,and istheaveragedepthofthepond.

Productionrateisreferredastheamountoftotalfishharvestedinoneyearfromonehectaresizeofpond.Itcanbeestimatedbyusingequation(2)

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...(2)

Where, istheproductionrateofthefish(kg/

ha/year), isthetotalmassoffishproduction

annually(kg/year)and isthetotalsizeofthefishponds(ha)

Results and Discussion

Sizeoffishpondplaysaveryimportantroleasfaraseconomicstatusofa farmer is concerned.Everyfarmercan’tafforda largesizepond.Mostoften ithas been observed that farmers may also increasethe productivity of his farm land by his intenselabour and endeavour. Thus, in the present study,it is important to know whether the annual fishproduction in Cachar district is influenced by thefarmsizeornot.

For compilation of results in more exhaustiveway, the ponds (which is also called fish farm) ofCachar has been divided into four types which isbased on its size. The smallest pond is termed asvery small pondhaving area less than 0.3 hectare.Pondshavingfreesurfaceareaof0.3to0.5hectarearetermedassmallponds.Further,mediumpondsare those ponds which has surface area between0.5and1hectare.Thosepondshavingsurfaceareamorethanonehectareistermedaslargeponds.Theannualproductionoffisheshasbeendeterminedbycollectingdataforalltypesoffishfarm.Theresultssuggest that the average annual fish productionfor very small size farm is 1703 kg/ha/year. Theproductionrateoffishesforverysmallsizefarmhasbeen shown in Figure 4.9. From this figure, it canbe depicted that themaximum annual productionoffishesinsomeoftheverysmall farmmayreachto2091kg/ha/year.Thismaybeachievedby someof the farmers with adopting proper managementpracticesintheirfarmlands.

Figure 2. Production rate of fish in very small size fish farms

Further,after conductingsurvey for small sizefishfarm, ithasbeenobserved that theaverageannualproductionoffishesis1985kg/ha/year.Theannualproduction of fishes for small size fish farm isdepicted inFigure4.10.Duringsurvey, ithasbeenobserved that the annual production of fishes forsuchfishfarmvaryfrom761kg/ha/yearto2650kg/ha/year.Theproductionrateoffishesincaseofsmallsizesfarmisremarkablymorethanverysmallsizefishponds.

Figure 3. Production rate of fish in small size fish farms

For medium size fish farms, it has been observedthat the annual fish production varies from 1028kg/ha/year to3636kg/ha/year.Figure4.11presentsproductionrateoffishformediumsizefishfarm.Theaverageannualproductioninthiscaseis1815kg/ha/year.Theproductionhasincreasedascomparedtoverysmallandsmallsizesfarm.

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Figure 4. Production rate of fish in medium size fish farms

Furthermore,datacollectedforlargesizesfishfarmindicatesthattheproductionrateoffishesvaryfrom938 kg/ha/year to 1489 kg/ha/year. Figure 4 showsthe annual production of fishes for large size fishfarms.

Figure 5. Production rate of fish in large size fish farms

Theannualaverageproductioninthiscaseis1426kg/ha/year.Itcanalsobedepictedfromthesefactsthattheannualproductionrateoffishesforlargesizefishfarmsislessthanthatofmediumsizefishfarm.Thelowproduction rateof largefish farmmaybeduetothefactthatthefarmershaslargefarmsizesbutthere economic condition isnotwell suited for thepropermanagementofsuchlargefishponds.Thus,it can be concluded that even with possession ofsmallandmediumsizefishfarms,betterproductionratecanbeachievedbybettermanagementpractices.EightysixpercentagesofallthefishfarmsinCachardistrict are very small, small or medium size fishfarms.Only14%ofthefarmsareoflargesize.Theannual production is remarkably good for small

andmedium size farms.Thus, government shouldencourage farmers tomanagefish farmseven if itssizeissmall.

Conclusion

The present study is focused on the analysis offish farmingpattern inCachardistrict,Assam.Theanalysis isbasedonthe informationcollectedfromthis area. Fisheries is the second most importantsource of livelihood in the region. Due to lack ofmanpower and poor economical conditions offarmers in the region, the fish production in theregionhasnotbeenable tomeet the totaldemandoffishes. In thepresent study, attemptedhasbeenmade to analyze the optimal farm size of the fishfarm so as to increase the economic returns of thefarmers. To analyze fish farming pattern of studyarea,extensivesurveywasconductedinfiveblocksof Cachar district i.e. Borjalenga, Tapang, Sonai,Narsingpur,Palonghat,among169farmersanddatawascollected.Asetofquestionnairewasprepared,which includes general and technical informationoffishculturei.e.farmername,villagename,blockname,educationoffarmer,natureofholding,typeofponds,structureofponds,volumeofponds,seedingrates, type of seeds, production rate, fish culturetype,rateofselling,sizeofponds,totalexpenditure,etc.Forthepurposeofbetteranalysis,fishpondsofstudy areawas divided into four categories basedon their surface area; i) Very small pond (0 < 0.30ha),ii)Smallpond(0.30-0.50ha),iii)Mediumpond(0.50 – 1.0 ha) and iv) Large pond (> 1.0 ha). Theresultssuggestthateveniffarmerspossesssmalltomediumsizefish farms,betterproduction rate canbe achieved by improving management practices.EightysixpercentagesofallthefishfarmsinCachardistrict are very small, small or medium size fishfarms.Only14%ofthefarmsareoflargesize.Theannualproductionisremarkablygoodforsmallandmediumsizefarms.Sinceproductionrateforthesemediumsizefarmsarehigh,theeconomicalbenefitsearned by the farmers will also be high. Thus,government should encourage farmers to managefishfarmsevenifitssizeissmall.

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