Assam farmers take up climate-smart aquaculture in abandoned lands

Fish farmers at Bogibari village in the outskirts of Guwahati in Assam. Credit: DH Photo/Sumir Karmakar

Karmeswar Deka at Bogibari. Credit: DH Photo/Sumir Karmakar

When Karmeswar Deka, a farmer in Bogibari village situated on the outskirts of Guwahati in Assam, decided to dig a pond in his 3 bigha (roughly 1 acre) derelict land in 2007, he was hopeful of a good additional income. He, however, was not aware that the decision to convert the abandoned land in the village into more than 200 ponds by him and other villagers would change their lives and improve the environment too.

Deka, who is into paddy cultivation, now earns an additional income of about Rs 60,000 to 70,000 every year by selling fish. "Apart from providing an extra income, the groundwater level in our village has improved dramatically since the ponds were dug. As a result, the problem of water shortage both for drinking and irrigation has reduced," Deka told DH.

Several ponds have come up within one-kilometre radius at Bogibari since 2007 when seven youths of the village mobilised the villagers and encouraged them to convert their abandoned land and water bodies into ponds and take up "climate-smart" fish farming.

After failing to secure government jobs, the youths — Jyotish Talukdar, Binay Kumar Das, Amulya Deka, Kanak Pathak, Prabhat Talukdar, Ratan Jaishi and Umesh Chandra Das — formed an NGO called Kalong-Kapili and started fish farming. "We started with 20 ponds and today there are over 200 ponds in the village. The villagers now produce 5,000 kg of fish per hectare," said Jyotish Talukdar, director of Kalong-Kapili.

According to Talukdar, it was possible because of the technical help and training provided by the Assam fishery department and the loans of Rs 50,000 provided to each farmer by Assam Gramin Vikash Bank as part of the Umbrella Programme for Natural Resource Management of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).

Groundwater recharge

"When we started, we did not think that fish farming will also make such a positive impact on the environment. The villagers had to dig 80-85 feet to lay a tube well before the project was initiated. Depleting groundwater deteriorated the quality of water available. But after the ponds were dug, the groundwater got recharged so much that now water is available 30-35 feet beneath. The abandoned water bodies used to cause artificial floods in the village but now this water is being channelised for irrigation purpose," Talukdar said.

Apart from farming of fish like rohu, bhokua (katla), the NGO started a project for replacement of bottom-dweller fish by freshwater prawn. The villagers have also been encouraged to adopt composite farming including duck rearing, poultry, beekeeping, horticulture and mushroom production. More than one lakh families in at least 100 villages in six districts (Kamrup, Morigaon, Nagaon, Hojai, Dima Hasao and Karbi Anglong) have adopted this economically and environmentally sustainable livelihood model.

"At the same time, we are making sure that only the abandoned land is converted for fish farming and not the land being used for paddy cultivation," said Binoy Kumar Das.

Dhrubajyoti Sarma, managing director of Assam Apex Cooperative Fish Marketing & Processing Federation Ltd told DH that the climate-smart fish farming projects have improved livelihoods and environment significantly. "Earlier, people used to dump wastes at the abandoned land. These were not fit for any other cultivation too. Now, with the increase in income, most households have pucca houses, motorcycles and some own cars too," Sarma said.