A shortage of staff is holding back Sylhet's government fish seed production farms, Krishi Shomoy's Sylhet correspondent reports. The Khadimnagar and Golapganj farms have one officer in regular work against ten posts. With weak infrastructure and no modern technology as well, the farms cannot use their full capacity, and local fish farmers get little benefit.
According to the report, the farms were set up in 1947, Khadimnagar's on about seven acres in the city. They are among the main public sources of quality fish fry in the Sylhet region. But the hatchery unit at Khadimnagar has been shut for 10 to 12 years. The main reason is the lack of safe water: the stream beside the farm is polluted by waste from the BSCIC industrial area, and the groundwater has an iron problem.
Dwijaraj Barman, senior assistant director of the Sylhet fisheries office, holds additional charge as manager of the Khadimnagar farm. He said the farm sells fingerlings of rui, catla, mrigal, sarputi and other species from April to October. Its yearly sales target is Tk 4.5 lakh, which water shortages and other limits make hard to reach. He is covering five posts on his own. Spawn is brought from other government farms and grown on for sale, but the farm no longer breeds its own seed.
The other government fish seed farm, at Kadamtali in Golapganj upazila, was also short of staff for a long time. After a new manager was appointed in September this year, steps have been taken to start spawn production there.
Local resident Ramiz Uddin said: "There is no publicity about when fry are available at the farm." People living next to it, he said, do not hear when fry go on sale.
Newly appointed farm manager Md Moniruzzaman said spawn used to be brought in from other farms to raise fry, but the farm will start producing its own spawn by December. If all goes well, it will be able to supply quality spawn and fry to meet farmers' demand. To prepare, one man and one woman were hired through outsourcing last week. The report was filed by Krishi Shomoy's Sylhet correspondent.
Photo: Rabbi / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Source: Krishi Shomoy
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