RICE & FISH CULTURE AN INTEGRATED FARMING SYSTEM
A sustainable way in the farm sector: Guarantying and compensating the loss during any disaster
Mr. Ashok Das of Jhunupangara village of Dera Panchayat; a successful farmer
Mr. Ashok Das, who is 51 years old, lives in Jhunupangara village of Dera Panchayat in Rajnagar block with his
family which consists of his wife Mrs. Ranjubala Das and three daughters. The major occupation for the family is
agriculture where they use various integrated farming techniques for the increased productivity and efficiency.
Currently he cultivates paddy, rice fish culture (Integrated), fresh water fish and different vegetables in his 4
acres of land.
Mr. Das told that; more pilla belu bibhinya prakarara misra chasa
karibaku prabala agraha thila (since my Childhood, I was highly
interested in integrated farming to achieve better efficiency in the
agriculture). He used to help his father in agriculture field and also
used to study. Later he became a sculptor and visited various
proximate states like Andhra Pradesh and Chhatisgarh. Mainly
from the farmers of Andhra Pradesh he learned a lot about
integrated farming and in particular about the Pisci-culture.
During his work as a sculptor a
*tragedy
severely affected him
mentally as well as physically. Post this incident he decided to
switch his occupation and took up agriculture as his primary
livelihood.
* There is a belief that the people who are involved in sculpting
Hindu God and Goddess should take utmost care in doing so
and follow some pre defined rituals. Any failure in observing
the pre defined procedures leads to an unfortunate event
which severely affects the person involved
Mr. Ashok Das (Progressive farmer)
He owned land in and around his village but it was scattered across the village so he decided to sell off these
pieces of land and purchased 4 acres of land at one place near his village Jhunupangra and initiated integrated
farming in it. By Using one acre he dogged one pond and on the bond of pond planted no. of plants like; karanja,
Neem, Eucalyptus, Chakhunda etc. While he was building pond in his land, the main road was also being
constructed by the company named RKT, adjoining to his land. He built rapport with the company officials and
mobilized help from then to dig pond and flatten
the land for the cultivation.
Post this he opted for a loan from nearby Bank of
Baroda branch to commence the cultivation in his
land but nature had other plans and a small
cyclone destroyed his kaccha house. The loan
money was utilized to construct a pacca house and
later through his determination and initiatives
started pisci-culture and paddy cultivation in his
Trench Dogged near the pond for rearing the
field. He also took up vegetable cultivation in his field simultaneously.
He has been trained on Pisci-culture from SIFFA and also attended the similar trainings from various agencies of
Sambalpur and Kolkata. He has also been trained in horticulture by the horticulture department Kendrapara,
Agriculture (paddy cultivation) from the block agriculture officer (Mr. Sarat Jena) and also got exposure to rice
fish culture from Andhra Pradesh etc.
Since last two years he has been practicing rice-fish
culture in his farm for which he has dogged one
trench near the pond where he used to keep the
finger lings and after finger lings became little
bigger in size he used to leave them in the pond.
The land surrounding the pond is prepared in such
a way that the water will remain there for long
period and one deep trench is dogged in the
border of the agriculture land so, that fishes will
stay there and also can move around the
agriculture field within the paddy crop always to
Trench Dogged in the paddy field for fishes
reduce the pest and harmful insects. After the
(Rice Fish Culture)
harvesting the paddy crop the fishes will grow in
the trench dogged in the land and also one inlet
and outlet is there to keep the water level right for the fishes over here. One canal outside the village is the main
source of fresh water and also the rain water in the rainy season.
According to Mr. Das this system is the best system to reduce the risk of any agricultural loss due to any unforeseen disaster. Even If any loss happens to agriculture field then at least the fish compensate the loss. After
consulting with the agriculture officer in the Rajnagar block he is using Sarala & Durga variety of paddy which is
good for taking up rice-fish culture in this area. He takes up the vegetable cultivation particularly in the rainy
season and fresh water Pisci-culture around the year.
In the pond he practices rice-fish culture and produces approximately 8 quintals of rice and fish. The rice is used
for own consumption while profit from the sales of fish amounts to approximately Re 22000/season.
The fresh water pisci-culture generates approximately Re 35000, while amount of profit generated through the
sales of surplus vegetables is approximately Re 7000. Mr Das also plant eucalyptus trees which he sell for approx
Re 12000 at the end of a season.
All these activities are practiced in 2 acres of land while in the remaining two acres he practices paddy cultivation
and generates approximately 25 Quintals of paddy, out of which he keeps 10 quintals for his own consumption
while the surplus of 15 quintals is sold in the market.
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Written by,
Ms. Jyotirmayee Mallik
Community Organizer (Dera GP)
