Bastar: The pictures of the Naxal area are changing. Blue revolution is happening in Hare Bastar. Pakhanjur area of Kanker district has created a separate identity. Only Pakhanjoor has a turnover of about 500 crores from fish farming. More than three thousand farmers are doing fish farming. Earlier fish seed was imported from other states and now it is being exported to different states of the country. Farmers get an income of Rs 125 crore from fish seed alone. Cluster farming of fish in Chhattisgarh is now recognized in the whole country. With the schemes of the Bhupesh Baghel government of Chhattisgarh, prosperity is returning to the farmers. The green area of Bastar has seen unprecedented changes due to the blue revolution. The picture of Koylibeda development block of Kanker district of the state has started changing. Pakhanjur area of this development block is making a new place in the country in the name of fish production. Now this area is a well known name on the fisheries map of the country. Fish farming is being done here on cluster approach. This has become possible as a result of hard work of the farmers of Pankhajoor area of Koylibeda development block and with the help of the schemes of the government. In the last 4 years under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Chhattisgarh is progressing progressively in every field and a new identity of Chhattisgarh is being established in the whole country. More than five thousand fish farmers are associated with fish farming in Pakhanjur area. On what scale fish farming is being done here, it can be gauged from the fact that the average annual turnover by these farmers in fish seed, production and transportation of fish etc. is more than Rs 500 crore. There are about 19,700 ponds in this region, out of which fish farming is being done in about 99 percent of the ponds.
Fish farming with the help of farmers
The farmers of this region brought a revolution in this region as a result of their hard work and skill and the schemes of the government. These families carried forward the work of fish farming with the help of local farmers. Now this work has spread to the surrounding villages of Pakhanjur development block. Along with fish production, fish seed is also being produced here. From here fish seed is supplied to different parts of the country including Maharashtra, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh. Farmers earn about Rs 125 crore from fish seed alone.
Story of Pakhanjur’s Badekapsi village
The story of Badekapsi village of Pakhanjur is even more encouraging, farmers in 5 nearby villages are doing collective fish farming. In these villages, 1700 ponds have been made for fish farming. In which 30 thousand metric tonnes of fish are produced. The people of the village say that now leaving the traditional farming work, people are now moving towards the fish farming business, because it is a low-cost, high-profit business. Many of his fields in the villages have now been converted into ponds for fish farming. This technique of fish farming in cluster approach is becoming increasingly popular among farmers in Pakhanjur region. About 12 thousand 500 hectares of water area is available for fish farming in these villages. Apart from this, 27 hatcheries, 45 farms, 1623 ponds, 1132 hatchery breeding ponds are available here. 72 crore fish seeds are being produced here. Out of these, 64 crore fish seeds are sent to different states of the country. About 51000 metric tonnes of fish is being produced in Pakhanjur region due to modern techniques of fish farming. Here, 12000 metric tonnes of fish are being produced in fish production of 8000 per hectare water area. Apart from this, 80 million pegasus fish seeds are also being produced here. Pagasius fish seed is sent to different parts of the country for fish culture through cage culture.
Fish farming has gained momentum due to various schemes of the government
It is worth mentioning that various schemes run by the state government and the central government, such as the National Agricultural Development Scheme, Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana and Blue Revolution, Fisheries Promotion Scheme, provided great help and guidance to the farmers, due to which the business of fisheries in Pakhanjoor area has flourished. Got speed More than 5 thousand fish farmers are directly involved in this work. Farmers say that the fishermen benefited a lot from the Blue Revolution scheme. The business of fish farming has now taken a big shape here due to the loan grant for fish farming with advanced technology with technical assistance. Fish farming has been given the status of agriculture.
Fisheries department of Chhattisgarh government is providing loan grant to fish farmers for fish farming through state-of-the-art technology like cage culture biofloc, as well as providing technical guidance. Fisheries have also been given the status of farming in the state. With this, farmers are getting loans at zero percent interest, electricity and other facilities at subsidized rates similar to agriculture. There is enthusiasm among the farmers after getting the status of agriculture.
Chhattisgarh ranks sixth in fish production and fifth in fish seed production
Significantly, Chhattisgarh is one of the leading states in the country in fish production. Chhattisgarh ranks fifth in fish seed production and sixth in the country in fish production. In the last four years, 09 Chinese hatcheries and 364.92 hectare cultivation area have been created through Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana. Fish seed production has increased by 20 percent to 302 crore standard fry, similarly fish production has increased by 29 percent to 5.91 lakh tonnes. For fish farming, 4200 cages have been installed in reservoirs and 2410 cages have been installed on the land of fish farmers.
