Navsari tribal villagers take to aquaculture, poultry to earn livelihood

Surat: A small tribal village Singod, about 12km from Navsari town, is being developed as a model for livelihood generation in rural areas. The villagers who were mainly dependant on farming and labour work, have adopted new methods of income generation which includes aquaculture, poultry and vegetable cultivation.
A group of 42 people from the tribal village earned Rs 1.85 lakh during the first harvest fair (mela) held on Sunday. The villagers sold 1,200 kg fish worth Rs 1.56 lakh, 120 kg poultry worth Rs 21,00 and Rs 7,500 worth of vegetables. Their efforts over the last 10 months paid off well. It is estimated that the group could earn income of about Rs 14 lakh per annum by harvesting fish, growing vegetables and poultry.
The village is part of a pilot project of Navsari Gujarat Research Centre (NGRC), a remote centre of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture (CIBA).
ICAR-CIBA located in Chennai is a nodal centre for brackishwater aquaculture research in the country. It is responsible for brackishwater aquaculture research and livelihood development of farmers.
“As part of the project, our goal was to develop a livelihood model for the tribal population. The group of villagers got assistance from us to develop the necessary infrastructure,” said Pankaj Patil, a scientist at NGRC.
Kaushik Halpati, leader of the self-help group Singod Halpati Samaj Yuva Matsya Udhyog Juth, said that their lives have changed due to aquaculture in the 2 acre pond which had remained unutilized so far.