Dr. Prabjeet Singh & Dr. Meera D. Ansal
Introduction
The soil salinization is a global challenge, which has affected the agricultural productivity of more than 100 countries worldwide. Since, such lands are degraded and no more suitable for any profitable agricultural activity, it has snatched livelihood of many farmers, leaving them debt ridden despite having large landholdings. Human activities have further aggravated soil salinization leading to secondary salinization of lands, where the underground water is saline. The lack of proper drainage facilities and intensive irrigation (with canal water) practices has led to severe water logging (water table rise) problems in these areas.
Globally more than 1,300 million ha of land has been documented as salt affected, severely impacting the agricultural productivity and rural economies of many developing countries, including India. Out of total 6.74 million ha salt affected (including coastal saline soil) areas in India, around12 lakh ha is located in the non-coastal Indo-Gangetic plains of Northern India, including seven states viz, Punjab (1.51 lakh ha), Haryana (2.32 lakh ha), Rajasthan (3.75 lakh ha), Bihar (1.53 lakh ha), Uttar Pradesh (1.37 lakh ha), Madhya Pradesh (1.39 lakh ha) and Jammu and Kashmir (0.17 lakh ha)
Development of viable, sustainable and suitable technologies for utilization of inland saline areas has been marked as a national priority by the Government of India. The states of Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh are the worst affected with underground water salinity. Non-utilization of saline waters in these areas is leading to the problem of water logging and secondary salinization. In order to make these areas agriculturally suitable, it is necessary to reduce the water table to safer levels (below root zone) by pumping out of ground water. Unfortunately, this task of pumping out the ground water is a challenging job; and it is only possible through evapotranspiration, which itself is a very costly process; beyond the investment capacity of the resource deficient farming community. However, these unproductive zero-earning lands can be converted into economically viable lands through aquaculture. The aquaculture can help in evapotranspiration of a large proportion of water from these areas, besides generating livelihood for the affected farmers.
The previous studies conducted by different agencies have revealed that salt composition and salinity of inland saline water varies with site, sometimes even within few kilometres. Thus, development of region specific and viable aquaculture technologies is need of the hour to overcome the dual problems of salinity and water logging.
Chronological Account of Shrimp Farming in Punjab
About 1.5 lakh ha of salt affected lands are available in South West districts of Punjab covering six districts – Sri Muktsar Sahib, Bathinda, Fazilka, Mansa, Faridkot and Ferozepur, which has become unfit for profitable agricultural activities. It has affected crop cycles, crop output and has also converted many areas into zero earning waste lands. In this view, these lands offer a gigantic resource for economic development through horizontal expansion of the aquaculture sector; without exerting pressure on multiple use of agricultural land and water resources.
With the initiatives and consistent efforts of Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) for more than a decade (2007-2020), aquaculture in salt affected area of South-West district of Punjab has developed swiftly under embryonic and developmental funding support from the State and Central Governments. Success of first pilot project on aquaculture in inland saline area by the university, under pioneering funding by the Punjab State Farmers Commission (2007-2010), was recognized and financially supported by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) under “Niche Area of Excellence Project” from 2010-2015 for subsequent development.
GADVASU initiated carp culture in low saline areas (?5 ppt) in village Shajrana of district Fazilka. First fish harvest from the waste lands attracted the attention of the farmers and subsequent adoption in the village increased the area under aquaculture from 1 ha in 2010 to about 30 ha in 2015; with an average annual earnings of Rs. 1,50,000/ha. Encouraged by successful culture of freshwater carps in low saline area, university further took the challenge of utilizing medium to high saline area for aquaculture and conducted the preliminary vannamei (Litopeneaus vannamei) shrimp culture trial in village Shajrana (2013), followed by first commercial farming trial in village Painchanwali (District Fazilka) in 2014, which also reaped rich harvests beyond expectations of the villagers.
Impressed by the outcomes of the said aquaculture trials (fish and shrimp), Government of Punjab sponsored another Vannamei culture demonstration project in village Rattakhera (District Sri Muktsar Sahib) in 2016; through State Fisheries Department under technical guidance of GADVASU and Regional Centre of ICAR- Central Institute of Fisheries Education (CIFE), Rohtak, Haryana. After overwhelming success of the said demonstration project, the State Government initiated start-up promotional scheme (financial assistance/subsidy) for aquaculture in inland saline areas; which motivated the farmers to adopt shrimp farming in state; with consequent increase in culture area from 37.5 acres (in 2017) to 230 acres (in 2018) and approximately 350 acres in 2019. As we know, shrimp is the major aquaculture commodity contributing more than 60% to the India’s total export earnings (over Rs. 46,000 crores) from fisheries; hence, shrimp farming in inland saline areas is expected make significant contributions to state and national economies.
Shrimp Farming Practices in Punjab and GADVASU’s Role
With constant technological and extension support from GADVASU and State government promotional schemes, shrimp farming is slowly moving towards a commercial industry; presently located in four districts (Fazilka, Shri Muktsar Sahib, Mansa and Bathinda), involving about 70-80 farmers. These farmers are actively associated with the university, for technical guidance, disease surveillance support and many other utility services like training, water testing, seed testing, disease diagnosis/management, consultancy and literature.
Awareness Camps, Training Programmes and Technical Guidance to Farmers
The shrimp farming in Punjab is dependent upon seed supply from the coastal states of the country like Andhra Pradesh, Gujrat, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Specific Pathogen Free (SPF) or Specific Pathogen Resistant (SPR) certified seed is airlifted from Coastal Aquaculture Authority (CAA) approved hatcheries. Regular awareness camps are organised by the university to sensitise the farmers about procurement of SPF/SPR seed from CAA registered hatcheries, strict implementation of best management practices (BMPs) and stringent bio-security protocols. Under National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) & ICAR-National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources (NBFGR) funded project “Surveillance of freshwater and saline water fish and shellfish diseases in Punjab”, GADVASU is sensitising the farmers about shrimp diseases besides screening the shrimp seed for pathogens and providing disease diagnostic services throughout the culture period. Training programmes are also organised for the stakeholders on “BMPs for Shrimp Farming” besides publishing literature in print and social media.
Farmers of Punjab have evolved novel and intelligent strategies for marketing of their produce by developing strong network with the shrimp processing industries of Gujrat, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh etc. and many have also become facilitators for fellow farmers to coordinate with the buyers for direct marketing of their harvest. The buyers travel with their insulated vehicles to lift the shrimp produce from the farm site with instant payment. Besides this, some of the farmers take their produce to the neighbouring Ghazipur fish market of Delhi for direct marketing; which fetches them more prices. Some of the produce is also being sold in the local fish markets of the State and a major portion of it is sold in Ludhiana fish market.
Buyers at the Shrimp Farm Site in Punjab
Covid-19 Pandemic and Punjab Shrimp Farmers
With the outbreak of novel Corona Virus pandemic and imposition of strict lockdown across the country last year, the shrimp farmers of Punjab were in great despair, since Punjab is mostly dependent on Coastal states for seed supply. With suspension of air cargo services across the country, Punjab farmers were feeling hopeless about seed supply. To foster resurgence among bemused shrimp farmers of Punjab; an online webinar was organised by the university on “Covid-19 Crisis: Mitigation Strategies” in the month of May, 2020. During the webinar, the farmers were educated about certain mitigation strategies with a message that “Food is a Necessity and not an Option” and like other food items demand for shrimp will certainly be there at national/international levels; and hence, they shall go ahead with shrimp farming with some strategic measures. Among the proposed mitigation actions; the farmers were advised to postpone stocking, reduce stocking density to maximum 25-30 Post larvae (PL)/m2, stock in phased manner, follow strict bio-security and look for domestic marketing avenues.
Later with resumption of air cargo services in the country, shrimp farming activity kicked off in Punjab. The farmers started stocking their ponds in the month of May and continued up to the month of July/August, with an average stocking density of 25-30 PL/m2, covering approximately 395 acres of area. However, total area under shrimp farming in Punjab was expected to increase to 500 acres in 2020, if Covid-19 pandemic crisis would have not happened. Under university recommended resilient strategies, farmers were able to achieve productivity range of 3.0-3.5 tonnes/acre and majority of the farmers raised 30-40 count shrimp (25-35 gram size), up to 40gm in some cases, enabling them to fetch good market price (300-450 Rs/kg) with higher profit margins as compared to previous years…
Major Concerns and Road Map Ahead
The emerging industry of shrimp farming in Punjab is facing certain concerns, which need to be addressed for further development of the sector. Seed quality and disease outbreak are the two major concerns affecting output, quality and marketing/export of shrimp. Further, lack of feed and processing industry in the region is also adding to the production cost and procurement hassles. Presently, the shrimp farmers of the State are completely dependent on the coastal states for seed, feed and marketing support (processing and export). The future road map of the industry needs following considerations:
- Unlike typical seawater, the salinity and ionic composition of inland saline waters vary with location, even within the same districts. So ecological mapping of salt affected areas is the need of the hour for developing region specific aquaculture practices to achieve optimised production levels.
- Ensured supply of certified shrimp seed from registered hatcheries through an agency in government or private sector is required.
- National Aquaculture Network is also desired for optimised utilization of available aquaculture resources across the nation; through ensured input supply (seed, feed, pharmaceuticals etc.) and marketing support including processing and exports.
- Development of shrimp farming clusters, promoting fish farmers producer organisations (FFPOs), cooperatives and contractual farming models for inland saline regions to overcome exiting limitations through collective efforts.
- In view of high cost and risk involved in shrimp farming, there is a need to introduce low-cost and low-risk species for sustainable development of inland saline aquaculture, keeping in view the small and marginal farmers.
- Farmer utility services like training/capacity building, water quality testing, seed testing, consultancy, disease diagnosis and management etc., are required within approachable distances.
- Inland saline water aquaculture in the northern states like Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh need to be developed in a mission mode with subsequent development of a processing hub in the region to cater these states.
- Possibility of developing shrimp hatchery in the inland saline area also needs to be explored to cater the seed requirement of the northern region.
- Like CAA, a regulatory authority is also required to regulate aquaculture activities in the inland saline areas of northern states in respect to following aspects; for its sustainable development:-
- Utilization of only salt affected waste lands (unfit for agricultural practice) for shrimp farming or other aquaculture activities
- Registration of shrimp farms with Department of Fisheries of the State and/or CAA, India
- Procurement of SPF/SPR seed from CAA approved/registered hatcheries
- Disease surveillance and management to curtail disease spread
- Abidance to BMPs and bio-security protocols
- Environmental impact assessment
Disclaimer: Dr Prabjeet Singh is working as Asst. Professor while Dr. Meera D. Ansal is the Dean of College of Fisheries, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU), Ludhiana-Punjab- . Views expressed are personal. They can be reached at prabjeet29255@yahoo.co.in & ansalmd@gmail.com respectively.)
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