New Intervention on Pabda Cum IMC Polyculture in North Tripura District.”- KVK North Tripura

Success Story on “New intervention on Pabda cum IMC polyculture in North Tripura District.”- KVK North Tripura

Pabda is a species of catfish which is considered as a high value fish in the markets of Tripura as well as in the North Eastern Region of the country. It’s a very delicious fish and was declared as “State Fish of Tripura”. Pabda fish is a freshwater fish species. It is very tasty and has high nutrition value. So it has a great demand and high value in the market. Pabda fishes can be found mainly in the pond, swamp, paddy field etc. Pabda fish culture is considered as high value fish culture and the profit obtained from this type of fish culture is also higher than normal fish culture. The farmers of North Tripura district are mainly associated with culture of Indian Major Carps, exotic carps and few other minor carps etc. in traditional ways under normal fish culture activities. The earnings from this type of traditional fish culture practices are less compared to culture of high value commercial fish species. Keeping this in mind, polyculture of Pabda with Indian major carps appeared to be an innovative as well as high earning source of fish culture practice in this district.

Intervention: An innovative approach was undertaken by Krishi Vigyan Kendra North Tripura for development of polyculture practice of Pabda with Indian major carps among the special interested groups of farmers in different places of North Tripura district. Under this activity at first beneficiaries were selected based on their interest and three numbers of training programmes were conducted by KVK among the interested farmers.

Polyculture of Pabda with Indian major carps was undertaken at South Hurua area of Dharmanagar in a total area of 1.92 ha. Total 6 nos. beneficiaries each having 0.32 ha of pond area took the initiative for culture of Pabda for the first time and they were trained properly about the culture method and management practices as there was no established method of Pabda culture in the district. Inputs given to the farmers include 500 nos. of pabda fingerling to each farmer along with 2000 nos. IMC fingerling and also artificial fish feed (120 kg each). The title of the trial was “Growth Performance of Pabda (Ompok bimaculatus) in polyculture system”.

Technology: Growth Performance of Pabda (Ompok bimaculatus) in polyculture system.

(Details- Carp seed (IMC)- Rahu, Catla, Mrigal were stocked @10,000/ha, Pabda @ 3000/ha Culture period 7-8 months, feeding with floating pelleted feed and also natural fish food items in the pond, Initially feeding i.e. finely powdered (rice bran + MOC) @ 3-5 % OF Body wt upto 2 months, Floating pellet feed from 3rd months onwards @ 2-3 % body wt.)

Pic: Pabda fingerling distribution in Chandrapur GP.

Pic: IMC fingerling distribution in Chandrapur GP.

Result: (In trial ponds stocked with IMC seed and Pabda seed)

a) Fish yield (IMC): 406 kg/0.16ha b) Fish yield (Pabda): 28 kg/unit c) Net return (Rs/Unit): 49,900 /-per 0.16 ha d) B:C Ratio (GR/GC): 3.16

Result: (In control ponds stocked only with IMC seed)

a) Fish yield (IMC): 210 kg/0.16ha b) Fish yield (Pabda): Nil c) Net return (Rs/Unit): 18,500 /-per 0.16 ha d) B:C Ratio (GR/GC): 2.32

Pic: Trial on Growth Performance of Pabda (Ompok bimaculatus) in polyculture system.

Pic: Harvesting of IMC & Pabda from trial unit.

Impact of the Technology:

The inputs like Pabda fingerling, Pelleted fish feed and fish fingerling were distributed free of cost to the farmer under the trial. Cost of manuring was barred by the farmers themselves. After 10 months the fishes were harvested and sold to the nearby Dharmanagar market. The demand of Pabda fish was very high, in the Dharmanagar market fetching as high as Rs. 600.00 per Kg. Carps fishes were sold @ Rs. 150.00 - 200.00 per Kg. They received average net income of around Rs. 49,900/ 0.16 ha which was much higher compared to normal fish culture practice which was around Rs. 18,500/ 0.16 ha.

After the great experience with the Polyculture of Pabda with IMC practice under the supervision of KVK North Tripura, those farmers also started sharing all of their experiences and related information about the benefit of Polyculture of Pabda with IMC with their neighbours & also other farmers of North Tripura.

Impact and Horizontal expansion:

Similarly polyculture of Pabda and IMC was started in Chandrapur GP, West Tilthoi GP and Uptakhali GP in the next financial years under Panisagar and Dharmanagar Sub division under North Tripura District among the different interested farmer’s groups which showed great results and adoption among the rural farmers of the District.

Pic: Horizontal expansion of Polyculture of Pabda with IMC in Chandrapur GP.

Pic: Horizontal expansion of Polyculture of Pabda with IMC in West Tilthoi GP.

This in turn improved their livelihood and socio economic status like other parts of India. This type of fish culture technology can also be replicated in other parts of Tripura state to obtain better profit than normal fish culture practice. Of late more and more farmers are coming frequently in the KVK North Tripura office for taking training and gathering knowledge about the benefits of Polyculture of Pabda with IMC. This shows the wide and horizontal expansion of this culture technology among the rural fisher folk of this District. Till now more than 100 farmers have adopted culture of Pabda along with IMC under the supervision of KVK North Tripura.