A group of fish farmers from a marginalised community in India are enjoying a bumper harvest of pearl spot from their cage fish farming venture, bringing some relief from the difficulties caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
A self-help group named ‘Puzhayoram’ in Maradu, a village in India’s Ernakulam district in Kerala, recorded a yield of 600 kg of pearl spot from a 4 by 4m cage in Maradu-Nettoor backwaters. The cage farming was part of a programme of the Scheduled Caste Sub Plan (SCSP) of the ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) for the Scheduled Caste community.
“With no income and unemployment, the Covid-19 pandemic and following lockdown had a cascading effect on the lives of the SC families in the region,” explained Dr K Madhu, principal scientist of the CMFRI and the principal investigator of the project. “However, the cage farming venture has helped them sustain their livelihood to a certain extent.”
The ten-month project began last year with the stocking of 2,000 pearl spot seeds with the fish attaining a growth rate of 380g and selling for around US$6 per kilogramme. The cage, seeds and feed were provided free of cost by the ICAR-CMFRI which also supplied researchers to help guide the farmers.
“The institute is always focused on empowering the marginalised section of the society through small-scale enterprises by extending its technologies to them,” said Dr A Gopalakrishnan, director of ICAR-CMFRI.
