Imphal, Feb 14 NNN: Fish farming, a business which is yielding financial gain in the village of Heingang in Imphal East now can double up your income without great effort and by that means unemployment problem can also be easily solved if the Government provides necessary loans to farmers for investment.
Heingang Pat, also known as Pourel Loukol (paddy field) can produce substantial quantity of fish if the State Government turns its centre of interest on the Heingang fish farmers, Khunaijam Konthounganba, a fish farmer of the village told Newmai News Network during an interview on Tuesday.
To do fish farming required intensive labour and money, and that a minimum of Rs 1, 40,000 has to be invested in a common fish pond covering an area of about 0.83 sq feet where fish for Rs 60, 000 can be reared, he said.
The business of fish farming in Heingang Pat was all started by Paonam Santa, one of the pioneers in this field, back in 2008. He took up the initiative by toiling himself in a small hut in the Pat where he raised a small amount of fish, Konthounganba remembered, telling that following the example, from that year onwards most of the residents too started fish farming in Heingang paddy field.
Small fish ponds are made in the paddy field by digging the ground where enough fresh water body is available for fish breeding. However, the level of water in the field is usually low round th year and rice production is therefore low, leading the paddy field owners to lend their respective land to others.
Fish like Rou, grass carp, silver carp, common carp and different local fish too are reared in the Pat.
“If help by the Government by providing loan to the fish farmers of Heingang Pat, more fish can be produced which in turn make it easy for them to return the money to the banks or Government and in the meantime creating jobs to many unemployed youths of the State through the process of loaning,” Konthounganba insisted.
Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/fish-business-boom-in-the-state/
