Successful adoption of Dweep-Carp Grower Feed Technology  

SITUATION ANALYSIS

Aquaculture in Andaman and Nicobar Islands is known for its huge demand for the freshwater fishes as the settler population prefers freshwater fishes than the abundantly available marine fishes across the archipelago. The ever-growing demand for freshwater fishes holds a great potential for the Island farmers to venture into the domain of freshwater aquaculture. In freshwater aquaculture, around 60% of the operational cost is spent on feed and feeding management practices which are also considered as the critical input for successful aquaculture practices. The extensive method of fish farming with less or no inputs and lack of knowledge on supplementary feeding are the main reasons behind the lower freshwater fish production in the Islands.

Smt. Jaya Lakshmi from M/s. Meyor Nature, South Andaman is having a unit at Garacharma involved in freshwater fish culture, rearing of poultry birds including desi and broiler birds, cultivation of vegetables and seedlings of flower and fruit crops, organic manure production and marketing of the same. Initially, she was feeding the fishes in her culture unit with the available ingredients but could not achieve the desirable growth of fishes. Later, she came to know that ICAR-CIARI is producing the fish feeds and procured the carp grower feed from Division of Fisheries Science, ICAR-CIARI and fed to the cultured fishes. Impressed with the growth performance of the cultured fishes in her unit, she has decided along with her team to venture into the entrepreneurship development on fish feed production which is the highly demanding input for Island aquaculture.

TECHNOLOGY INTERVENTIONS

‘Dweep-Carp Grower Feed’ formulated by ICAR-CIARI can be fed to the Indian Major Carps from fingerlings to marketable size. A pilot scale fish feed mill was established by ICAR-CIARI with a production capacity of 80 to 100 kg per hour which is extended as an incubation facility in order to promote startups in fish feed production for Island aquaculture. The technology and incubation facility were developed by ICAR-CIARI with the financial support from NABARD, Port Blair through Farm Sector Promotion Fund project.

IMPACT / OUTCOME OF TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION

ICAR-CIARI, Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Islands signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with M/s. Meyor Nature, Garacharma, South Andaman on 18th February, 2022 for the commercialisation of Dweep-Carp Grower Feed technology and incubation facility of pilot scale fish feed mill. During the availed period of incubation facility, hands-on training was provided by ICAR-CIARI to Smt. Jaya Lakshmi and her team on various aspects of Dweep-Carp grower feed production such as familiarisation with the feed mill and machineries, selection of ingredients for fish feed preparation, steps in carp grower feed production, storage of fish feed and ingredients and various types of feeding methods.

INCOME GENERATION

After receiving the hands-on training and technical guidance from ICAR-CIARI, Smt. Jaya Lakshmi and her team have gained the required confidence and started producing and marketing the carp grower feed from the incubation facility. Altogether, 1025 kg of carp grower feed has been produced and marketed by them with a revenue of Rs. 51250/- during the availed period of incubation facility.

WAY FORWARD

Smt. Jaya Lakshmi and her team is very much satisfied with the technical support received from ICAR-CIARI and also planning to expand the fish feed production by establishing their own fish feed mill in their unit at Garacharma. It is reiterated that their earnest efforts on producing the nutritionally balanced feed along with proper feeding methods and better management practices shall definitely revolutionize the freshwater aquaculture sector and augment the productivity of Island aquaculture.

Contributors : K. Saravanan, T. Sivaramakrishnan, R. Kiruba Sankar, J. Praveenraj and Sreepriya Prakasan