Production of livestock, fishery, and poultry together with rice, in combination, has been recognized as a revolutionary concept to increase production in several countries. Rearing of fish in paddy fields is known to improve the soil conditions leading to increase in the rice yield. Rice-fish rotation is also considered to be effective in suppressing weeds, pests, and diseases. With the popularization of aquaculture as an integrated activity with rice, several padasekharams, presently remaining uncultivated for the past several years in the region could be brought to farming with enhanced profitability.
In the background of aquaculture emerging as one of the most promising industries in the world, with high growth potential, the Research and Development support in India has rendered aquaculture as a bankable rural industry recording an average growth rate of 11.4 per cent. Aquaculture, however, needs to take lessons from our experiences in agriculture and its recent crash on the east coast of India. These lessons indicate that application of wrong technology or over exploitation of natural resources have only short-term gains. Hence, environment-friendly integrated fish farming, suitable to the overall agricultural system is a sound alternative to capital-intensive hi-tech aquaculture. Again, it is essential to develop a threshold grow-out strategy for aquaculture integration, making rotational farming of rice mandatory, whereby the waste generated by aquaculture is assimilated in rice farming and vice-versa.
A wealth of documented evidence has been accumulated in favor of integrated farming approach (bio diverse farming). Such studies demonstrate that it can compete with industrial agriculture as well as industrial fisheries in terms of producibility and that bio diverse farming offers the important additional advantages of sustainability and risk reduction
Pokkali-A pioneering integrated system
The practice of utilization of paddy fields for sequential farming of fish and prawn is an age-old practice in the pokkali paddy fields of Kerala. These are brackish water fields adjoining Vembanad Lake The practice is popularly known as Chemmeenkettu or prawn filtration. Here, in one and the same field, rice and fish/prawn are farmed in a cyclical manner, the detritus supplement of straw after the rice crop forming bulk of the food material for prawns. In these fields, rice is cultivated during the low saline phase (June _October) and shrimps reared during summer months (November-March), when salinity builds up and when the field is unsuitable for rice. In this system, the shrimp seeds naturally entering from the coastal seas are trapped and cultivated as a mutually beneficial and ecologically efficient enterprise-farming model. Several studies conducted in the pokkali paddy fields have shown that the production of prawns and the net profit could be improved by selective stocking of commercial species.
RARS experiments
The studies conducted by the Kerala Agricultural University at the Regional Agricultural Research Station (RARS) Kumarakom have set the pace for a change in integrated farming in Kuttanad. These studies indicated that in addition to rice production averaging three tons per ha, fish production ranging from 600-1000 kg per ha could be obtained by simultaneous farming of rice and fish. As compared to the practice of simultaneous farming that requires several modifications in the paddy fields to protect the fish from the inherent risks of pesticide applications, utilization of paddy- fields for rotational farming was found more advantageous. This was so because rotation permitted adoption of better management practices for both rice and fish. In these investigations, wherein fish production of Indian major carps, Cyprinus, Etroplus, and Macrobrachium rosenbergi were polycultured, fish yield up to 1005 kg per ha without incurring any additional expenditure on feeding or manuring was achieved. From these observations it could be inferred that rotational farming of rice and fish is a viable proposition for Kuttanad. Certain species of fishes viz., Cyprinus and Grass the support of Fish Farmers Development Agency (FFDA) in Kottayam and technical advice from the RARS, is still continuing with enthusiasm and constant modifications as a result of learning by doing. A detailed account of the integrated farming done is given below.
The farming started with the nursery preparation and subsequent deposition of fish seeds (numbering 68,000) arranged by the FFDA, purchased from Government hatcheries at Polachira, information on various combinations of fish seeds and the required number according to the growth of fish were given by RARS. The need to add poultry droppings to enhance the plankton growth at required level was also advised. The new demand feeding technique through a suspended open gunny bag on the farm was also adopted on the advice of RARS. Both FFDA and RARS inspired and helped the farmer a lot to make the experiment a success. Safeguarding the nursery was a difficult job. The following measures were adopted for this.
(I) Spreading net on the top of nursery to keep off birds.
(ii) Electric bulbs at selected spots to attract flies.
(iii) Net fencing to safeguard the nursery from the attack of snakes and predators.
(iv) Employing a full-time labourer for feeding and guarding the nursery.
(v) Operating a pump set for pumping in water for oxygenation.
Preparation of Nursery After the last washing of water from the nursery, cow dung (@ 500 kg) was applied. Then water was let in through a netted sluice. Cow dung was applied a second time to nourish the water to enhance plankton growth. The pH of field water was tested periodically to ensure that it is maintained between 7.5-5.5. After ensuring that the plankton grown and pH level in water is satisfactory, the fish seeds were introduced into the nursery.
Stocking Rate
The normal stocking density of fish seed is 4000 to 6000 numbers per ha. It is also possible to stock fresh water prawns additionally at the rate of 10,000 numbers per ha. In such cases bottom feeding fish species are avoided.
The general species mix and stocking models adopted comprise of surface feeders (25 per cent) column feeders (30 per cent), and bottom feeders (45 per cent)
Catla, and Grass Carp are surface feeders. Rohu is column feeder, and bottom feeders like. Mrigal, Common carp, and fresh water prawns were also stocked
The procedure for preparation of the nursery pond was as follows:
After dewatering the nursery pond copper sulphate and lime (l hg each mixed) was applied to kill the weed fishes. Quick lime (100 kg) was used for washing (three times) to reduce the acidity of the soil.
Grass Carp that eat weeds was included to control weeds, depending on the extent of the weed problem in the field.
Water quality monitoring
The quality of environment has a profound influence on aquaculture production. Acidity is a major problem and hence periodic application of lime will be done. Water quality monitoring was done by the cultivator himself with the help of FFDA and scientists of RARS.
Feeding in the nursery
Rice bran and groundnut cake powder (500 gm) are mixed in water and given in trays immersed in the water at four different places in the nursery every morning and evening. The feed trays are immersed with the help of a stone weight and taken up with the help of a coir rope tied to it. The seedlings remain in the nursery pond for four months. After the rice harvest, the nursery pond is opened to the paddy field (polder). By this time, the fish would have acquired an average weight of 50 gm
Feeding in the Polder
Fish is allowed to grow in the paddy field immediately after the rice harvest by flooding the field. After flooding no feed was supplemented to the polder during the first month. After that rice bran, cassava, cooked meat waste, groundnut cake, etc., were given to the fish. Feed was kept suspended in perforated gunny bags. Aquatic weeds were utilized to feed Grass Carp, which was always an integral stocking component. This species (Grass Carp) consumed vegetation up to 60 per cent of its body weight. Water hyacinth, water lettuce, grass etc., are given to the Grass Carp
Integration of pigs, livestock, ducks and poultry
During the first year, the farmer integrated livestock and pigs, next year ducks were added too, and the third year poultry was integrated. Livestock and duck rearing were discontinued on economic reasons alone. But piggery and poultry proved to be profitable. Pig dung and poultry droppings enriched the field. Cultivation of garden crops on the bunds enhanced the productivity from the unit land. Pigs were reared on the outer bunds of the fields in such a way that the waste and washings are drained into the field for the fish to feed on. In this way, the fish could utilize the feed spit spitten by pigs and also feed on the fresh pig dung that contains 70 per cent of digestible food for the fish.
Harvesting and marketing
Fish became ready for marketing from the sixth month onwards. The fish crop is totally harvested and marketed in one month’s time so that the rice crop could be raised on time. Harvesting is carried out by drag netting or gill netting and finally by total draining of the field. Fish was marketed the same day in fish markets at Ettumanoor, Kottayam, and Moovattupuzha.
There was substantial reduction in the cost of rice cultivation since the farmer consciously reduced exogenous inputs to maintain the ecological quality of the paddy field to facilitate the fish farming. Since fish such as Grass Carp ate up the weeds the dominant cost component of weeding and land preparations were saved. The ecological suitability of this system was also brought about by the RARS studies.
Comparison with rice-fish systems
The Kumarakom Model is an ideal model practised by an individual farmer. But in Kuttanad, normally rice cultivation is done in large tracts of Padasekharams and fish cultivation integrated with rice is gaining ground here. But other integration such as poultry and cattle is difficult here because of the management problems of collective farming. But the integration of rice and fish is spreading, mostly in the Kottayam district of Kuttanad.There are three polders in Kumarakom where integrated farming is being done successfully. The first and foremost is Ittoop’s Lijo Farm (20 acres) on the southern tip of Kumarakom village, Kappada Padasekharam (10 acres) owned by an individual near it, the Anthony Kayal (55 acre) on the northern side of Kumarakom. Many tourists as well as researchers visit these farms.
For a detailed study on integrated farming at Kumarakom see P.G. Padmanabhan, N.C. Narayanan and K.G. Padmakumar (1999) Economic Viability of an intensive integrated and sustainable resource use model for Kuttanad. KRPLLD, Centre for Development Studies – Thriruvananthapuram (http.//www.krp cds.org)
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