A Harvest mela was organized to exhibit the harvest of fish and crab fattening done in homestead pond at Baliyara, Mousuni Islands under the STC plan. The tribal beneficiaries were supported by Kakdwip Research Centre of ICAR, CIBA to adopt scientific brackishwater farming in their unutilized homestead ponds. About 65 participants including villagers, scientists and stakeholders participated in the event. The demonstration was carried out in 8 ponds of 500 – 800 m2 area where salinity ranged from 2-15 ppt. Fishes viz. Tilapia, Minor mullets, Catfish, Pearlspot and Tiger shrimp were stocked (ABW: 5-10 g) in the pond along with water crabs in floating boxes for fattening. On-farm trainings were provided to the beneficiaries where they acquired skills in pond preparation, seed acclimatization, fish sampling, pond management etc. Fishes attained a body weight ranging from 200 – 750 g in 8 months of culture. A harvest mela-cum- interaction meeting with beneficiaries and scientists was conducted on 01.03.23. Ms. Babita Mandal, the nodal scientist of this demonstration program explained the viability of brackishwater polyfarming for the livelihood upliftment of coastal tribes of the Islands. Dr. Sanjoy Das, Acting head of KRC-CIBA interacted with the tribal villagers and explained the management practices of integrated fish and poultry farming. Other scientists from Kakdwip Research Centre also interacted with beneficiaries. On this occasion inputs for poultry farming (100 chicks and chick feed), crab boxes, drag net, fish feed, etc. were distributed to beneficiaries. FRP tanks were also handed over to tribal beneficiaries to create a RAS hatchery for ornamental fish seed production in the village. A partial harvest comprised of 100 kg Tilapia, 10 Kg P. monodon, 20 kg L. tade, 20 kg L. parsia, 15 kg Crab, 25 kg M.gulio were harvested which generated a revenue of Rs.37,000/-. Subsequent harvests are planned on fortnightly basis and a total production of 1.5 tons is expected.
