Odisha’s gramme panchayat tanks have been subjected to scientific fish farming as part of a gender-sensitive flagship programme involving nearly 7,829 Women Self Help Groups (WSHGs).
The introduction of mola fish, a small indigenous species (SIS), has helped these WSHGs earn more than Rs. 200 million in annual revenue.
Scientific fish farming is also thought to be an effective tool for combating malnutrition in Odisha. Through the cultivation of micronutrient-rich mola alongside Indian major carps, the programme promotes nutrition-sensitive pond polyculture.
Mola fish (Amblypharyngodon mola), a small indigenous species (SIS), was an important part of Odia cuisine until about a decade and a half ago. However, as a result of changing climatic conditions, pollution, and the excessive use of pesticides and fertilisers washed into water bodies, the fish variety gradually disappeared. However, in recent years, village-level programmes, led by women, have worked to reintroduce the fish, known as mahurali (in Odia) or chunna maacha (in local parlance), while also providing a source of income.
Odisha’s Fish and Animal Resource Development (FARD) Department launched a programme in September 2018 to assist Women Self Help Groups (WSHGs) with scientific fish farming in gramme panchayat tanks. The programme emphasised nutrition-sensitive pond polyculture by farming micronutrient-rich mola alongside Indian major carps.
Women are paving the way
In 2019, a 12-member WSHG in Badasahi, a village in the Marapur gramme panchayat of Mayurbhanj, began nutrition-sensitive pond polyculture by farming micronutrient-rich mola.
“Eight years ago, our SHG leased the village pond for fishing. We introduced mahurali fish to the pond in 2019. Fresh water fishing has been extremely profitable for us. We used to just sell fish, but now we manage the pond, maintain it, feed the fish, monitor their growth, and then harvest and sell them,” said Ashtami Killar, a Badasahi SHG member.
Eight years ago, the group leased the five-acre village pond. They renewed the five-year lease contract in 2019 and launched the SIS fish variety. Each woman has increased her annual household income by Rs. 10,000 as a result of this programme.
The Odisha Fisheries Policy, 2015, promoted fishing in unused and underutilised gramme panchayat (GP) tanks across the state in order to increase fish production. To breed fish in these tanks, the Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Department of Odisha, the Women and Child Development and Mission Shakti Department, FARD, and Self Help Groups collaborated on a multi-institutional strategy. In accordance with this, the GP tanks were leased to WSHGs for a period of five years in all 30 districts of the state in 2018.
Currently, 7,960 GP tanks in 6,742.36 hectares of the state’s total 68,000 hectares have been leased to 7,829 WSHGs. Odisha has nearly six lakh (600,000) WSHGs with a total membership of over seven million people.
“Fishing was a novel concept for the majority of WSHGs. “As a result, the women were trained and guided through the fish farming process to ensure sustainable and profitable fish production through the optimal use of these public water bodies,” said Debananda Bhanj, Odisha’s Additional Director of Fisheries.
In GP tanks, the programme aimed for an average fish production of 2,500 kilogrammes per hectare crop. The fish is sold in the market for an average of Rs. 170 per kilogramme (kg).
This gender-sensitive development program’s goals and benefits are multifaceted. The programme has assisted women in increasing their household income, thereby socioeconomically empowering women in the state, while also increasing the availability of nutritious fish in markets.
“This is a gender transformative approach, with women as the primary stakeholders in the programme implementation. With women taking up the lead role in such initiatives, it ensures an extra income which is used for the benefit of their children. It empowers them to walk with their heads held high in the community and people look at them differently,” said Shakuntala Thilsted, CGIAR scientist and specialist in nutrition-sensitive approaches to aquatic food systems.
A push for better nutrition
The nutritional benefits of introducing the mola fish were critical. The project made live and fresh fish easily available and accessible to the local village community on a regular basis at reasonable prices.
Most self-help groups distributed small amounts of fish, particularly mola, among themselves for no monetary gain. This has proven to be an effective tool for combating malnutrition in their communities, as it has resulted in increased consumption of nutritious fish among WSHG households.
Keeping women at the centre of the scheme is a calculated effort, given their importance in ensuring adequate nutritional inputs within families. The mola fish species is nutrient-dense and contains preformed vitamin A in the form of retinol, particularly 3, 4-dehydroretinol (vitamin A2).
Aquaculture financing mechanisms that are novel
The programme provides a 60% input subsidy of Rs. 90,000 per hectare against a total unit cost of Rs. 1,50,000 per hectare. “We provide subsidies for all critical inputs. Because the lease will expire in five years, we plan to extend additional input subsidies, as discussed with the Mission Shakti department in a recent meeting,” explained Bhanj.
The total revenue generated by the GP tanks in 2021-22 was Rs. 29.07 crore (Rs. 290 million). “The financial risks from this business are very low and so far, the initiative has been profitable for the WSHGs with input subsidy. When the profits reach a certain level, the women entrepreneurs will be self-sufficient to continue this initiative with more women.
Simultaneously, a hatchery has been established in Jagatsinghpur district for mass seed production of mola to facilitate large-scale adoption of nutrition-sensitive carp-mola polyculture, which remains a challenge.
“The hatchery-based breeding protocol developed under this GIZ-funded project can be followed by any individual or institution with an interest in mola breeding and contributes significantly to the development of nutrition-sensitive aquaculture,” said Sourabh Dubey, an aquaculture expert with WorldFish, adding that the breeding protocol is simple and can be adopted by small-scale hatchery operators. WorldFish provides technical assistance to the fish farming programme.
“This will be especially beneficial in the cases of Odisha and Assam, where state governments have recognised and prioritised nutrition-sensitive approaches and included carp-SIS polyculture in their policies by launching new programmes under the auspices of the Department of Fisheries,” Dubey explained.
The hatchery has the capacity to produce up to 500 million mola spawns or hatchlings per year. However, according to Dubey, the company’s ability to produce SIS seeds is influenced by a number of factors, including the availability of mature brooders, labour, a favourable climate, and natural disasters.
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