टीएसपी/एसटीसी कार्य सिद्धि

1. Introduction giving base line information, funding etc.

TSP/STC programme of ICAR-CIFA was operated in 4 aspirational districts, i.e. Koraput, Nabarangapur, Gajapati of Odisha and West Singhbhum of Jharkhand during 2019-2020.  The main objective of the programme was to enhance the income of the adopted family through various technological interventions which ultimately lead to sustainable livelihood. Keeping in view the mandate of ICAR-CIFA the main focus was to develop the aquaculture based technological empowerment. While implementing the programme special emphasis was given to the women farmers mainly through Self Help Groups.

West Singbhum district of Jharkhand is one of the poorest districts in the country with high levels of poverty and is dominated by tribal population. 67% of total population belongs to different tribes. 85.48% of its people live in the villages. It has 21 % of its area under forest cover. Employment opportunities are limited in the district with 44% of the people being engaged in Agricultural labour. The average landholding is of about 1-hectare majority is of upland.

Three districts Odisha i.e. Koraput, Nabarangapur and Gajapati are among the 250 most backward districts, categorized by Ministry of Panchayat Raj in 2006. Koraput is an Adivasi district, known for high concentration of Adivasi communities (tribes). As many as 51 tribes are found in undivided Koraput district (includes Nabarangapur and Malkanagiri). The Koraput district comprise of hilly areas where as Nabarangapur is having more plain area.  The district Gajapati is having 55.79 % of tribal population as per 2011 census. All the three districts’ economy mainly depends on rainfed agriculture.

2. Issues and challenges

All the 4 district belongs to most backyard category where livelihood option is limited. Though fishery played an important role next to agriculture in state of Jharkhand nearly 70% of water bodies is not brought under scientific aquaculture. The major impediments of development of fisheries in the state are disorganized extension support due to lack of requisite extension personnel at grass root level, dilapidated existing aqua resources, weak infrastructure and inadequate / inappropriate policy support, tenural right issue, inequalities, lack of scientific technology and poor infrastructure and market linkages.

The population of the Nabarangpur district is aound15 lakh with one of the lowest per capita income in the state (1200/- per month) whereas the state average is Rs.5000/- & national average Rs.7000/-. A survey shows that the minimum food expenditure of Rs. 400 per month with very low or no economic activity at all. The district is endowed with varied water resources, which could be exploited economically and sustainably to provide livelihoods security as well as economic security to the tribal community. The district has a total water area- 4982 ha out of which private pond 530 ha, GP pond 672 ha, revenue pond 530 ha. As per the data of District Fisheries Officer spawn stocking in 2016-17 was 2.05 Cr and fingerling stocking for 2016-17 is 28 lakhs. The total Fish Production in 2016-17 was about 550t. The district is in a developmental stage, with regard to inland fisheries is concerned. Many riverine systems and water bodies are a boon for accelerating its production capacity in fisheries. As the district has no hatcheries, it limits seed rearing and Fisheries Department is spending about 30 lakhs in seed procurement.

In Koraput the aquaculture is in very poor state. In Jeypur district because of State Fisheries intervention small scale aquaculture exists. In other blocks like Koraput, Boriguma, Kotapat and Nandapur where CIFA undertook the work, aquaculture is somewhat new introduction. Under different schemes like MGNREGS, MIDH (Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture), RKVY many small to medium size ponds have been created. So, aquaculture could play key role to utilize these water bodies to generate substantial revenue. It was visualized that since both water resource and human resources were present sufficiently, the aquaculture could prove to be main weapon to fight hunger and poverty paving the road to development.

Thus, different aquaculture technologies were introduced to all the 4 districts through demonstration, training and timely supply of critical inputs.

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