Birat
Anupam
Itahari,
June 5 (RSS): 31-year-old Binod Krishna Shrestha from
Barahakshetra Municipality-11 Shukrabare of Sunsari district has an experience
on foreign employment for six years. Some twelve years ago, he did fly to
Dubai. He did join a food packing company and worked for two consecutive years.
He flew back home. Again, he went for Saudi Arabia. He worked there for four
consecutive years until his return last year as a store manager.
As a gulf returnee
migrant worker, this young man did not want to fly to another gulf nation this
time. He thought of doing something in his locality itself. For this, he had
joined his ancestral polyculture (pond culture). However, his fishery is much
different to his predecessors. He has adopted a very new fishing technology in
his locality. ''I am one of the very first farmers to have used biofloc for my
fishery'', said elated Shrestha, ''I have seen future in this new fishery technique.''
Shrestha said biofloc fishing
has many positive sides, which include bigger production in smaller area, low
use of human resource and easy mobility. ''If we have to run fishery in
traditional pond on any land, we need many folks from fish fry collection till their
harvest ,for bigger production, we need bigger space and if the price of the
land is not affordable we cannot move out ponds '', said Shrestha. He added, ''However,
in biofloc fishing, small area is enough for bigger production and biofloc fishing
tank is portable which can be transported to the suitable location.''
Shrestha has additional
benefits on his fishery in biofloc fishery. As an inhabitant of Buffer Zone of
Nepal's only wildlife reserve named Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve (KTWR), there
are many chances of fish hunts from catfish, crocodile, eagle and the likes.
''Biofloc fishery does not have much loss compared to our traditional
fishery'', Shrestha said. He said predatory birds, animals and reptiles
arriving from KTWR consume around 20 percent fishes in pond culture.
Trouble by predators is
something complained by all fish farmers from this Buffer Zone as the major
problem of fishery. In order to address this woe fish farmers like Binod
Shrestha got chance to participate in the Multi Stakeholder Platform organized
by SAMRIDDHI where fish farmers from around Province 1 were participated. This
gave birth to the first biofloc fishing technology in this locality. Emergence
of biofloc has helped farmers rearing fingerlings on their own.
Shrestha has run two
biofloc fishing tanks measuring 10,000 liters each covering as area of six
meter width and ten-meter length. He has been rearing 1000 common carps in the
1-meter deep biofloc tank. Shrestha's switch from traditional fishery to
biofloc fishery in his 18 Kattha 19 Dhur of ancestral land was possible thanks
to support of The
Rural Enterprises and Remittances Project (RER P)''SAMRIDDHI''.
The SAMRIDDHI project is the seven-year project jointly initiated by Government
of Nepal/Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies and the International Fund
for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The working area of this project includes
8 districts of Province 1 which includes Shrestha's district of Sunsari. This
project aims to focus on agricultural and non-agricultural areas by providing
sustainable sources of income to poor households, migrant families and
returnees through creation of micro, small and rural medium-sized enterprise as
a means of developing local businesses and creating jobs
RERP has subsidized and technically supported
3 potential fish farmers group namely
Shukrabare
Matshya Krishak Samuha, Shrijanshil Yuba Matshya Krishak Samuha and
Aviayanmukhi Matshya Krishak Samuha in Barakshetra cluster for the foundational set-up of
10 Bioflo tanks .
He added, ''''SAMRIDDHI initiated exposure cum three
days training event in the Poush 2078 to Rampur-Chitwan on biofloc. Beyond this
SAMRIDDHI window 1 matching fund support program has also provided some agro motor, spray tank,
net and related technical items.''
Hopeful
on good economic return
Binod Shrestha has spent almost a year on preparing
and learning biofloc fishery since his return from abroad. He is optimistic on
his newly launched rural venture. He anticipates good economic return in the
future something equal to his gulf earning.
''The first salary in my first month of Dubai job
was around Rs. 30,000 per month and the salary of my last month in Saudi Arabia
before my exit was around Rs. 70,000'', said Shrestha, ''I am hopeful to make
similar income here itself in long run from fishery and other associated
agricultural incomes.''
Shrestha said he is eager to sell live fishes to
generate more margins. ''If I have to sell based on the syndicate of the fish
market, I have to rely on the market-fixed prices. However, if I sell live
fishes, I can fetch more money'', Shrestha elaborated. ''I have tried and made success in this drive
but could not sustain the demand from my limited production.'' Generally, local
fish contractors shape the selling prices for mass market. However, the fish
farmer himself can fix the price for individual buyers who do love to purchase
live fishes.
In order to master more skills of three day training
and his hands-on experience on biofloc fishery, Shrestha relies on some trusted
popular digital platforms like youtube and fishing portals. He said he has
gained strong information about bacteria culture from online platforms.
Mentor
for fellow members
According to Nabin
Nepal, Supply Chain Supervisor for Fish Supply Chain promotion activities
mentions, “Samriddhi” project also planned to develop mentors with skills who
can help their fellow farmers. As such, Shrestha is now mentoring his fellow fisheries
farmer group members since he was trained in Chitwan.
Nisha Chauhan Bashnet,
the Economic Development Facilitator at SAMRIDDHI and also a local, there are SAMRIDDHI generated three fishery groups of 77 fish farmers.
''This is the
first-time use of biofloc fishing tank in this local unit of Sunsari'', she
said, ''This will be followed by more fish farmers as there are 224 households
doing fisheries individually and institutionally in various individual and
institutional ponds in all 11 wards of Barahakshetra
Municipality.''