Assessment of integrated fish farming at farmers’ fields in Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh

In this climate changing scenario, it is very difficult to sustain the livelihood of farmers’ families in Bundelkhand region which is mainly based on rain fed agriculture system. Conventional mono cropping system always bears a risk of loss in such type of situation due to abrupt behavior of weather. Integrated farming with poultry, fish and crops can play a significant role in increasing manifold production, income, and nutrition and employment opportunities to rural populations. A study was carried out at three farmers’ ponds covering an area of 0.30 ha each in Datia during the year 2018-19 and 2019-20 to assess integrated pond based production, doubling income and employment opportunities for the rural farm households. Three different components like fish, poultry and pattern based vegetables were integrated with crop production instead of single crop production system. The results indicated that in integrated farming system, with additional enterprises viz., fish, poultry with year round vegetables exhibited enhanced production over conventional mono cropping system. This integrated farming system gave better production results by managing each enterprise within same area as in mono cropping system. The total economic return in terms of net return achieved from integrated farming system was Rs. 172704/- including Rs. 38023/- from fish, Rs. 73931/- from vegetables, Rs. 28300/- from poultry and Rs. 32450/- from crops whereas conventional method mono cropping rice and wheat gave a net return of Rs. 85548/ from the same area. The utilization of family labor round the year in pond based integrated production system improved the production as well as creates employment opportunities for income generation. The overall results revealed that the integrated pond management with crop, poultry, fish and vegetables was an excellent approach for increasing farm income up to Rs. 77156/- and employment opportunities for the resource poor rural community.