Over 5,000 farmers associated with fish farming in Chhattisgarh's Pakhanjur

The pocket around Pakhanjur in Chhattisgarh’s once restive Kanker district is now setting an example of blue revolution.

The area, in the Koylibeda development block, has been infamous for the revolutionary activities of Maoists. However, the people have turned their back on all that and set a precedent for development not only in Chhattisgarh but also in the country.

Over 5,000 farmers are associated with fish farming in the Pakhanjur area.

“The scale of fish farming being done here can be gauged from the fact that the average annual turnover of fish seed production, transportation, and production of fish is more than Rs 500 crore,” the spokesperson for the agriculture department said. There are about 19,700 ponds in the region, and fish farming is being done in about 99 per cent of those.

The story of Badekapsi village is even more encouraging. Farmers in five nearby villages are doing fish farming collectively. In these villages, 1,700 ponds have been prepared for this and 30,000 tonnes of fish are produced each year, the spokesperson said. The people of the village say they are drifting towards this business because it is low-cost and high-profit. Many of their fields in the villages have now been converted into ponds for fish farming.

In the Pakhanjur region, the technique of fish farming in the cluster approach is becoming increasingly popular among farmers. About 12,500 hectares of water area is available for fish farming in these villages. About 51,000 tonnes of fish is being produced in the Pakhanjur area because of modern techniques of fish farming.

From Chhattisgarh, fish seed is supplied to different parts of the country. Farmers earn about Rs 125 crore from fish seed alone, the spokesperson said.