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Lack of fries hurting fish farming prospects
Farmers of Kanchanpur, who wish to engage themselves in fish farming, are disappointed these days, as they have not been able to gain access to fries.Bhawani Bhatta
Farmers of Kanchanpur, who wish to engage themselves in fish farming, are disappointed these days, as they have not been able to gain access to fries.
Fish farming is gradually becoming popular in places like Kailali and Kanchanpur in western Tarai, where fish ponds spread in around 50 hectares of land. But shortage of fries has created a big hurdle for farmers who wish to earn a livelihood by selling fish.
Only half of the demand for fries is currently being fulfilled, according to the Fishery Development Centre, Kailai. This has compelled farmers to import fries from India.
“Kanchanpur currently does not have its own hatchery. So, unless we build one, fries will always be in short supply,” Manoj Bista, a fish farmer who imported fries from Delhi and Pilibhit, said.
Lately, some of the farmers have built nurseries to grow fries. But they are of small scale and their production does not fulfil the market demand. Farmers rearing fish in large scale also run their own nurseries. But the fries they grow are sufficient to meet only their own demand.
The Fishery Development Centre in Kailai, however, produces nearly about 2.5 million units of fries per year.
But the annual market demand hovers between 6-7 million units. “Demand for fries has been growing for the past one to two years, following rise in number of fish ponds,” said Surya Shahi, an officer of the Fishery Development Centre.
The government is currently providing grants to fish farmers who intend to grow fries.
But these farmers use the money to import fries from India, rather than grow them in the district, fishery experts said. This has prevented the district from increasing the supply of fries, they said.
Kanchanpur currently produces 600 tonnes of fish from both natural and artificial ponds. These fishes are grown in artificial ponds that spread across 180 hectares of land, show statistics of the District Agricultural Development Centre, Kanchanpur. Fishes are also grown in natural ponds that stretch in 101 hectares of land.
100k fries die
About 1 million fries that were imported from Pilibhat, India have died due to delay in issuance of quarantine certificates.
These fries had arrived at the customs office on Sunday, according to Bandhu Chaudhary, a fish farmer. “But the quarantine officer did not certify fish imported from India on time. This led to death of the fries,” Chaudhary said.
Chaudhary claimed that farmers had requested Quarantine Officer Mohan Pandey to certify the imports. “But he did not do that on time. So, we couldn’t refill the oxygen tanks for fries,” Chaudhary said. (PR)