September 13, 2024

13 min read

In Odisha’s Adivasi areas, farmers fish their way back home

A state-run fish farming scheme in Odisha creates livelihood opportunity in drought-hit villages, brings migrants home

Abhijit Mohanty

BALIGUDA, Odisha: For years, Nilima Khilla, 33, was the sole worker on the family-owned 2.4 acre farm in an eastern Indian village. She grew millets, paddy and vegetables while her husband Rama Khilla toiled at a brick kiln in southern India. The couple’s income, however, was still not enough to sustain their family of four.

But when Khilla sold 180 kilograms of fish two years ago for about Rs. 30,000 – defying sceptics in her village who were doubtful of this state-backed fish farming scheme in their drought-hit village – Rama returned.

Khilla, a Kondh adivasi and resident of Baliguda village of Odisha’s Koraput district, has emerged as the poster girl for fish farming in her village, as the first woman fish farmer to show profit on the new business, which helped her husband take a decision to return to his village from the brick kiln in Tamil Nadu where he worked.

“We caught fish only for our own consumption all these years. But when a government scheme to distribute fingerlings came in 2022, I decided to raise fish in 0.3 acres of my pond,” Khilla said, as she showed the horse gram produce from her fields.

“People questioned how I would manage it alone but seeing my family’s needs and my husband’s terrible working condition in another state, I was determined to make it happen,” Khilla told The Migration Story

Erratic rainfall has rendered Koraput, like many other districts of Odisha, drought prone, which has fuelled migration of mainly men to other Indian states. Over the years, the state has introduced livelihood packages, and also climate resilient crops to cushion the impact of fickle weather on agricultural yields, to empower local communities and arrest distress migration.

However, the decision of migrant workers to return rests on the income that these initiatives generate.

Khilla, like nearly 5000 more farmers, showed that fish farming had potential.

Last June, Khilla’s fish yield jumped to 280 kgs – from 180 kg the previous year – and the Khillas earned Rs 45,000.

Rama now works alongside Nilima in agriculture and fish farming and her experience has inspired many women to take up fish farming in her village, said Daitari Majhi, the sarpanch of the Golur Panchayat that Baliguda comes under.

The combined business of agriculture, chicken farming and fisheries is bringing in a decent income for the couple now.

“Besides, there is enough nutritious food for the family too. And I am able to send both my sons to school and save some money for emergencies. The best part is that my husband has resolved not to migrate again,” Nilima Khilla smiled.

THE FISH SOLUTION

The Odisha Government launched the fisheries scheme in 2022 for a cluster of nine tribal-dominated districts of Odisha, which are also amongst the worst hit by climate extremities in the state and record high distress migration numbers.

About 16% of the state’s population falls below the poverty line, according to the Niti Aayog.

Some of the state’s poorest districts such as Malkangiri, Kalahandi, Koraput, Mayurbhanj, Rayagada, Gajapati are covered under the new fish scheme. All these districts are dependent on rain-fed farming, but erratic rainfall, floods and prolonged droughts over the years have disrupted agriculture in the region.

As many as 26 districts in Odisha, which are home to nearly 36 million people, are exposed to extreme climate events such as cyclones, floods, and droughts, according to an analysis by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW).

Apart from cyclones and floods, Odisha has also witnessed a four-fold increase in droughts in the last ten years, the CEEW analysis notes. It states that droughts and drought-like conditions, which were once irregular occurrences, “affect more than half of the state’s districts in recent decades”. According to the CEEW analysis, “even flood-prone regions like Angul, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Gajapati, Kalahandi, and Nayagarh have witnessed a shift towards drought events in the past decade”.

These extreme weather events have pushed up migration numbers.

According to the 2011 Census, around 850,000 workers from Odisha had migrated, with significant numbers moving to Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Maharashtra. The numbers have only been increasing, research shows. The number of seasonal migrants leaving Odisha for other states shot up to 1.45 lakh in 2015, up from 87,000 in 2008.

One in every three rural households in Odisha has a migrant family member, according to the National Sample Survey, with most migrants as men.

The fish farming initiative, launched as part of the state’s Special Programme for the promotion of integrated farming (SPPIF), entails creation of farm ponds for freshwater fisheries. It is being implemented in convergence with India’s rural jobs guarantee scheme that offers 100 days of guaranteed work to rural Indians aged over 18.

As part of the fisheries scheme, villagers are provided a subsidy for fish seeds, feed and nets, support to set up small-scale fish feed production units and also handholding to integrate fish farming with allied activities like agriculture, horticulture and livestock.

armers across nine districts in the last two years. The key focus of the programme is conservation and restoration of existing ponds. So far, ponds spread across 2659 acres of land have been conserved and restored.

The fish farming process starts with the distribution of fingerlings of breeds such as Rohu, Katla and Mrigal to farmers as per their pond size. For each acre of pond area, the government provides 3000 fingerlings. The fingerlings are nurtured in the pond till they achieve a weight of 700-800 gram. This is followed by fish harvest and farmers sell their yield both in local markets and even at the pond, said Simanchal Padhee, Assistance Fishery Officer, Jeypore block, Koraput.

“The average fish harvest in a pond measuring 0.2-0.5 acres – the average pond size that farmers in this region have – is 200-280 kgs. Fish is harvested twice a year – in May-June and then in November. Thus, the beneficiaries earn a net income of Rs.55000-60000,” said Padhee, adding the government had spent Rs. 1.54 crore on the scheme in the last two years.

The income has drawn people like Nilima Khilla’s husband and also daily wage workers like Kartik Muduli, 38, who migrated to Andhra Pradesh every summer since 2018, in search of work and made about Rs 9000 every month. He returned seeing merit in the scheme and said his earnings had improved considerably.

“There is always demand for fish in the market. In 2023, I earned Rs 68,000 only from fish harvest. And this year, I have already earned Rs 34,000, and still have one more harvest to go. Fish farming has helped me become self-reliant. Now, I don’t need to leave my family and go looking for work in other states,” said Muduli, who lives in Jhalaguda village of Koraput.

What Muduli seeks, however, is timely availability of fingerlings. “Delay in distribution of fingerlings by the agencies means they are not fully developed by harvest time. Also, we need more training about fish diseases and treatment to maintain quality yield,” said Muduli.

Officials overseeing the fisheries project said the benefits of the scheme stretched beyond providing livelihood.

“Fish is a rich source of animal protein for vulnerable communities. Small-scale fish farming could be a powerful tool to mitigate food insecurity and nutrient deficiency while ushering economic prosperity in rural areas,’’ said Srinibas Das, Livelihood Coordinator at Odisha Livelihood Mission in Mayurbhanj district.

FISH ENTREPRENEURS

Patil Disari lives in Kinjariguda village in Koraput and recalls a time from many years ago when there was always “sufficient food”. That was when the village practiced mixed farming, growing pulses, millets, cereals, oilseeds, tubers, and vegetables, all in one patch.

“But the weather has changed drastically in the last 20 years,” Disari said, as he tended to the crop on the bund of his fish pond. He also blamed the shift to mono cropping for making survival from agriculture challenging, and creating the need for villagers to seek work outside.

“I was the first person in my family to have migrated out for work,” said Disari, who worked at a brick kiln in the neighboring state of Andhra Pradesh.

In 2022, he too returned to start fish farming and is now among the 25 million people who depend on fisheries across India for their livelihood.

The rain-fed villages of Koraput, where he lives, offer an ideal setting for fish farming, experts and officials said, and the project has offered rare inclusion of small and marginal farmers, which is not always the case.

Small-scale, rain-fed fishery in tribal areas has suffered from lack of attention and financial support, but according to experts these interventions are important to promote fisheries in a sustainable, inclusive and equitable manner.

“Besides, water bodies are the lifelines of rain-fed regions. Fisheries in these water bodies not only provide sustainable income but also contribute to biodiversity conservation by promoting self-sustaining populations of indigenous fish species,” said Nityanand Pradhan, secretary of Parivartan, a non-profit in Malkangiri that works with adivasi and marginalized communities.

Officials overseeing the project said tribal farmers in the state had harnessed the potential of local water bodies and even adopted innovative practices.

“Odisha’s tribal farmers have not only improved their own lives but demonstrated a sustainable livelihood model for other regions facing impact of climate change, malnutrition and distress migration,” said Suresh Kumar Vashishth, Principal Secretary of the Fisheries and Animal Resources Development Department.

Pradhan said that limited government grant for the fish project, however, is preventing the scheme from being scaled up. “This model of rain-fed fishery has shown visible positive impacts. The government should alllocate adequate budget to scale up the model. This will benefit more farmers who has shown interest for fish farming.”

While the fisheries project supports land owning farmers with seedlings and pond restoration, landless farmers too have availed the scheme, and turned entrepreneurs.

Tuna Palka, 37, from Chandrapur block in Rayagada district sells about 1000 kilograms fish feed every month, earning a net income of Rs 10,000.

“Nearly 60 farmers from nearby villages buy fish feed from me and the number is growing each year,” said Palka who also returned from the brick kilns of Andhra Pradesh to start this business.

“Income was meagre then, insufficient for my family of five. But the fish feed mill has transformed our lives. I am able to educate my children and take care of their health. During the monsoon, we grow paddy, millets and vegetables while for the rest of the year, we prepare and sell fish feed,” said Palka.

Palka’s business model is rooted in knowledge.

Traditionally, fish was reared in adivasi areas only for personal consumption. Therefore, only natural food sources in the pond were enough for the fish. But a good yield needs supplementary nutrition.

“Inadequate feed impacts fish health, growth, and overall yield,’’ said Abhisikta Mishra, a Bhubaneswar-based fisheries expert working with Watershed Support Services and Activities Network (WASSAN), the agency incharge of coordinating the project in partnership with the Government, local NGOs and farmers.

Odisha’s agriculture department, in collaboration with civil society organizations, is training local youth to set up nano fish feed enterprises like Palka’s. “By leveraging locally abundant resources like rice bran, wheat bran, finger millet bran, mustard oil cake, groundnut oil cake, and mahua oil cake, these entrepreneurs are developing protein rich fish feed to boost aquaculture productivity,” said Mishra.

More than 90 farmers including Palka have set up nano fish feed plants in villages itself with a financial support of Rs 1.5 lakh each from the agriculture department. The department has also provided them with feed processing machinery and each mill employs 3-4 people to purchase raw material and package the fish feed, that entrepreneurs sell to fish farmers. The feed is cheaper too as it does not need to be transported since it is produced locally.

“Earlier, I travelled 74 kms to the district headquarters Paralakhemundi to buy fish feed. There was a transportation cost and it was also time-consuming. But now, since we have a mill in our village, we can buy quality feed here itself,” said Madhab Sabar from Subalada village in Gajapati.

Officials said they aim to roll out a similar scheme in other parts of the state as well, using their learnings from these villages.

VEGETABLE GARDENS

For now, the fish project has turned farmers innovative, enterprising even as they are now growing vegetables in the bund area of their ponds, restoring and conserving the soil in the process.

Fish farmer Muduli, who returned from Andhra Pradesh, is among them and he sells vegetables to supplement his income from selling fish. “I have realized that crops grown on the bund reduce soil erosion and siltation in ponds,” said Muduli, while displaying a bounty of freshly harvested beans and tomato from his bund.

Khilla too has transformed her pond bund into a vibrant vegetable garden. “Our children crave colourful food, so they eagerly eat the fresh vegetables we grow,” she said with pride. The surplus produce brought her an additional income of Rs. 8,500 last year besides a weekly saving of Rs. 400-500, previously spent on purchasing vegetables from the market.

It’s a healthy innovation, said officials who are seeking to integrate fishing with other farming practices.

“Growing vegetables on bunds plays a crucial role in soil conservation as it allows better water infiltration. The increased soil moisture reduces the need for frequent watering, resulting in significant water savings for farmers,” said Sonali Mohapatro, additional fisheries officer of R. Udayagiri block in Gajapati district.

For Khilla and Muduli, however, it only means their family stays and prospers together in their native place.

Edited by Ravleen Saluja

Abhijit Mohanty is a Bhubaneswar-based independent journalist who reports on sustainable food, livelihood, women’s leadership and climate change with a special focus on tribal and other marginalised communities of India.