Twenty ornamental fish species, all-male prawns and vegetables on the dykes: a Dumuria integrated farm nets Tk 15-20 lakh a year

With careful planning and management, young entrepreneur Rahul Biswas has built an integrated farm and fish enterprise at Banda village in Dumuria upazila, Khulna, that has become a talking point across the area. His Biswas Agro Project and Fish Hatchery combines ornamental fish breeding, improved freshwater and tiger prawn farming, vegetables and livestock on the family's land about four kilometres from Dumuria town.

Drawn to farming as an agricultural college student, he first succeeded with freshwater and tiger prawn, then two years ago moved into ornamental fish after seeing the demand from the aquarium trade. Last year he built a specialised hatchery with three houses, modern pumps and six ponds; it now breeds about 20 species including molly, moontail, comet, angel, guppy, goldfish, koi carp, butterfly and tetra. Large fish traders from Khalishpur in Khulna to Katabon in Dhaka buy regularly, orders from anywhere in the country are sent in oxygen packaging, and fish sell at Tk 20 to Tk 200 a pair or piece by species.

On the family's 16 bighas are nine large ponds, eight growing all-male freshwater prawn with modern technology and one growing tiger prawn by the CP method, while the pond dykes carry pesticide-free cucumber, yard-long bean, bottle gourd and other vegetables. The project also includes a cattle breeding unit, foreign-breed dogs and a rooftop pigeon breeding and sales centre. Rahul told BSS the ornamental fish market runs all twelve months; the farm employs six regular workers alongside his own full-time labour, and clears about Tk 15-20 lakh a year after all costs.

Nityananda Mondal, a successful prawn farmer and college teacher in Dumuria, said Rahul's innovative approach to breeding and marketing ornamental fish is a model for unemployed youth in the region, and that his prawn and vegetable farming has done equally well. Upazila senior fisheries officer Zillur Rahman Regan told BSS that ornamental fish farming is a promising idea in prawn-dominated Dumuria, and that the professional, technology-based integration of all-male prawn and ornamental fish is commendable.

Based on BSS's Khulna report. Source: BSS