STATUS OF FISH FARMING IN SHIKTAHAN VDC OF RUPANDEHI DISTRICT OF NEPAL.
A survey was conducted in 30 households to study the status of fish farming in Shiktahan VDC of Rupandehi district in 2014. It was found that 26.7% of respondents have pond area between 84 and 169 m2, whereas 43.3%, 16.7% and 13.3% have pond area between 170-253 m2, 254-338 m2 and above 338 m2 respectively. Most farmers (86.7%) were dependent on rainfall because fish farmers in this area are poor and unable to afford a motor pump. Only 6.7% of the farmers owned motor pump to pump water for their pond while 6.7% were using irrigation canal as a source of pond water. Silver Carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) was cultivated in 100% of the surveyed household. Common carp (Cyprinus carpio), grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella), big head carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis), rohu (Labeo rohita) and naini (Cirrhinus mrigala) were cultivated by 86.6%, 93.3%, 40%, 63.3% and 6.7% households respectively. Of the total stocked fingerlings in the pond, 39.6% were silver carp, 17.7% common carp, 16.4% grass carp, 9.7% big head carp, 13.8% rohu and 2.7% naini. Comparing the total harvest, 44.8% was obtained from silver carp, 18.8% from common carp, 14.2% from grass carp, 11.3% from rohu, 8.5% from bighead carp and 2.3% from naini. Similarly while evaluating the total income of pond harvest, 36.3% of total income was contributed by silver carp, 20.1% by common carp, 19.5% by grass carp, 12.2% by bighead carp, 10.1% by rohu and 1.8% by naini.
100% of the farmers used IAA based carp polyculture technology for fish farming. This is incorporation of agriculture with aquaculture. In this technology different vegetables like pumpkin, cucumber, sponge gourd, bitter gourd, ridge gourd, okra etc. are cultivated on pond dikes depending on the season. This helps to generate the secondary income and also minimizes the risk of fish farming as vegetable production may compensate if there is economic loss from fish farming. The study concluded that fish farming has helped to improve economic development of rural VDC members. There is great potential for fish farming in this area because fish demand is higher than supply. Despite of this fact farmers are unable to meet the demand because of lack of knowledge, source of pond water, and threats from disease.
Keywords: Integrated Agriculture and Aquaculture (IAA), Village Development Committee (VDC)