Training needs of fish growers of Udham Singh Nagar district of Uttarakhand
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Date
2021-10
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G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand)
Abstract
In India fisheries is recognized as one of the important economic activity and a flourishing sector with varied potential and resources. With, the increasing pressure of supplying cheap fish protein to meet the growing demand of increasing populations the need for aquaculture emerged. The other major challenge is limited scope for expanding area under crop cultivation. Thus, aquaculture and the realization of its contribution to employment generation, foreign exchange earnings, food production and improvement of rural economy have convinced many Asian nations to include aquaculture development in their national economic development plans. India is the second largest country in aquaculture production. Fisheries sector has shown growth from 4.9 per cent in 2012-13 to 11.9 per cent in 2017-18(FAO 2020). The sector accounts for 5.23 per cent share of agricultural GDP. The fisheries resource of Uttarakhand comprises of fast flowing rivers, high and low altitude natural lakes, manmade reservoirs, ponds etc. Besides the availability of various resources peoples are not that much aware of various scientific practices and fisheries resources are underutilized. The state still depends for supply of fishes from other states. Trained fish growers can bring miracle in state fish production. The first step of training cycle is identification of training need. It plays a very important role in determining success of training. This study attempts to study the training needs of fish growers in fisheries related areas, socio-economic, communication and psychological characteristics of growers, relationship was determined between profile characteristics & training needs and constraints faced by fish growers.
The analytical research design was used to meet the objectives of the study. The study has been carried out in purposively selected Udham Singh Nagar district of Uttarakhand as it has highest production among thirteen district of Uttarakhand. Selection of particular block(s) village(s) couldn’t yield a reasonable sample size. So, in order to form reasonable sample, list of fish growers was obtained from District Fish Inspector and 120 fish growers were selected through simple random sampling irrespective of block or village using random number table. The respondents belonged to Khatima, Rudrapur, Sitarganj, Kashipur and Bajpur blocks. Interview schedule was modified accordingly based on pilot study. Interview schedule was used for data collection. Photographs were also taken. The data collected was coded, tabulated, analyzed and interpreted with help of appropriate procedures and statistical techniques like mean, weighted mean, frequency, standard deviation, percentages, correlation and t-test. The findings of the study revealed that majority of respondents belonged to middle age (33-53), had qualification up to higher secondary level and belonged to general category. Majority of respondents had small (1-2 hac) land holdings, medium level of annual family income, medium (0.46-1.88) size of pond area, level of social participation, Utilization of information sources, market availability, fish farming experience( 2-6 yrs), medium level of scientific orientation and economic motivation. Majority of respondents had no training exposure and about 20.83 percent respondents were doing fisheries as primary occupation, other took it as secondary occupation. Regarding training needs of fish growers in related areas, maximum need in fisheries was found to be in Common fish diseases, their diagnosis & control measures (2.70) followed by Site selection, construction & maintenance of ponds (2.54), Composite fish farming (2.46), Use of medicine and antibiotics (2.43), Soil and water quality management (2.38), Control of external parasite (2.36), Methods of fish preservation (2.31), Prophylactic treatment of fish diseases (2.30), Methods of harvesting (2.15), Net making and their care & preservation (2.15), Loan facility (2.11) ,Lime and manure application (2.09), Processed fish marketing (2.06), Formation of balanced fish feed & importance of vitamins and minerals (2.05), Aquatic weed and weed fish control(1.98), Feeding devices(1.91), Integrated fish farming (1.90), Maintenance of brooders during harvesting (1.85), Leasing system (1.83), Stocking density and quality fish seed (1.70), Knowledge of supplementary feeding (1.66), Operation of craft and gear (1.61), Formation of cooperatives (1.62), Feed ingredients(1.50), Proper time of feed application (1.36), Air breathing fish culture (1.3), Ideal size of harvesting (1.29) and Live feed culture (.81) . Age was negatively and non-significantly correlated with training need of fish farmers, scientific orientation and fish farming experience were negatively and significantly correlated with training need. While, Education, pond area, size of land holding, annual family income, utilization of information sources and economic motivation were significantly and positively correlated with training needs. While, social participation was positively and non-significantly correlated with training needs in fisheries related areas. The major constraint faced by fish growers was diseases of fish & lack of government subsidies followed by non-availability of quality fish seed, Lack of marketing facility, Lack of natural feed in pond, high labour cost, Lack of extension services, Theft and pilferages, draining of pond water, distance from house, high cost of fish feed and flooding.