The Cotton Research Station at Veppanthattai in the district, affiliated to Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, has successfully reared fish in its farm ponds to demonstrate scope for income augmentation for farmers.
The bountiful rainfall of 1,160 mm in the district in 2020, which was 45% more than the normal level, helped in use of harvested water for multiple purposes including raising of short-duration additional crops and pisciculture.
Multiple-Use of Harvested Rain Water (MUHRW) was an innovative approach for poverty reduction and enhancing water productivity in dry lands, said S. Somasundaram, Associate Professor and Head of Cotton Research Station.
After harvest of cotton crop, the mainstay in the region, short-term addtional crops such as chickpea and cowpea were raised with the harvested water alongside pisciculture.
K. Sakthivel, Assistant Professor (Plant Breeding and Genetics), said fingerlings of catla, roghu, mirgal, silver crap and grass carp that were let into the farm pond during October 2020 were harvested last month.
The success in fish production had prompted farmers to try it out in the coming season in their farm ponds, he added.