Gauthan's pond, support for better income of women associated with fish farming

*Fisheries have been given the status of agriculture by the state government *Fish farmers are getting free water, loan without interest and...

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*Fisheries have been given the status of agriculture by the state government

*Fish farmers are getting free water, loan without interest and rebate in electricity rate

*The state of Chhattisgarh has received the Best Inland State award in the field of fisheries

Raipur .

Asal Baat News. 

After achieving the status of agricultural activity ,there has been a lot of reduction in the cost of production involved in fish farming due to exemption in electricity rate and free water and interest-free loan to fish farmers and this has resulted in increasing the income of fish farmers constantly. It is noteworthy that. 1.999 lakh hectare water areas is available in the state for fisheries, out of which 1,961 lakh hectare water area has been developed so far, which is 98 percent of the total available water area. 

The length of the naturally available riverine watershed is 3573 kilometers. 1.173 lakh hectares of water area as rural pond and 0.825 lakh hectare water area as irrigation reservoir is available for fish farming. High quality fish seed of improved species is being produced in Chhattisgarh which has made the state  become self-sufficient in fish seed production as well.

Under the encouragement of the state government and the guidance of the collector In Koriya district, fisheries are being encouraged in the ponds located in Gauthans. Women associated with self help groups have been trained and linked to numerous livelihood oriented activities such as fisheries work.  Gauthans have emerged as a new medium of economic progress for the women who were earlier engaged in domestic work and livelihood activities have brought significant positive changes in the lives of women who are now stepping out of the world of domestic chores to attain economic empwerment.

The lives of the women of Mateshwari Mahila Self Help Group of the Chervapara village of Baikunthpur development block have been positively impacted when they started the work of fish farming. Group president Pramina informs “that there are 10 women in our group and we wanted to do some work to make ourselves financially strong, but due to lack of guidance things could not materialise. When we were given information about fisheries by the officials of the fisheries department under the district administration, the women became curious to do be involved in this. The group duly understood its action plan to start the work of fisheries after attaining as much as information on the same.”

Pramina told that the group made a net profit of more than 50 thousand rupees last year from fish farming and this year they are expecting even more profit.

Assistant Director of Fisheries Department Mr. Suryamani Dwivedi said that for the last 3 years, fish farming is being done by this group in 0.50 hectare water area of the pond available in the Gauthan. The fisheries department has provided 25 lakh fish spawn and one fish net to the group under the fisheries extension scheme. On which 100 percent grant is included. The group was also duly given complete information about fisheries work. So that they can work better and earn substantial profit.

Chhattisgarh is one of the leading states in the country in fish seed production. Now private sector units are also coming forward in the field of fish research here and the state of Chhattisgarh has also received the Best Inland State award in the field of fisheries.