Thiruvananthapuram, February 23: Shrimp-farming business is not such an evil as it is made out to be, according to a recent ICAR-sponsored (Indian Council for Agricultural Research) study. Contrary to the Governmental policy directions, in practice, aquaculture has neither messed up the salinity of land nor encouraged large-scale straying from agriculture, according to the research team in Central Institute of Fisheries Education (CIFE)The empirical data gleaned from shrimp farming states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat blows up the armchair-postulates that aquaculture boom has gagged the development of traditional agriculture in the country. N K Thakkur, AK Reddy and Chandra Prakash, the scientists who conducted the study, found that 85 percent of the shrimp farms were constructed in the saline shore zone with little agricultural activities. Conversion from agricultural land accounted for only 15 percent of the total aquacultural acerage.
The study also identifies erroneous revenuerecords as the prime culprits in giving a bad name to aquaculture. There are huge overestimations in the statistical data on of agricultural lands. Almost all land in coastal areas, including unproductive holdings, are placed under the agricultural category in revenue records. Meanwhile, there is no category to denote land used for aquacultural farms. This explains the common deduction that there has been large-scale conversion of agricultural land to shrimp farms.
Another grave challenge that the study voices is to the theory that shrimp farming increases the salinity of the land. While the researchers admit that there was high salination of the land and borewell waters in coastal areas, the cause, according to them, is not the shrimp farm in the area. Salination is caused due to the proximity of the area to the sea, frequency of tidal flushing, nature of the soil, climatic conditions, ground water table and geomorphological characteristics of the locality.
The study argues that shrimp-farming causes nothreats to the health and hygiene of it mofussil population. In fact, the areas being cultivated for shrimp are providing better employment opportunities to local labourers, including women.
Another finding of the study is that mangroves are not suitable for commercial shrimp farming due to the acid sulphate soil in the area. This soil type is detrimental to shrimp growth. Only traditional aquaculture to the very minimal extent was found in mangrove areas by poor farmers. The ICAR Reporter, ICAR's house magazine, highlights that the study notices the negative impacts of huge corporate shrimp farms. The researchers noted that more-than-20-hectares farms were found obstructing the accessibility to fishing beaches. This, however, was solvable through mutual negotiations.
The study's ultimate message is that the positive fallouts of aquaculture outweigh its lapses. The big farms also furnished advanced aquacultural knowhow, provided aquafeed, hatchery, provided seeds and sustained small farmers atleast in asmall way, the study said.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
