Siribadam villager reaps success in trout fish farming

KUSH HANG LEEWANG

GEYZING,: A progressive trout farmer from Upper Siribadam, Kal Bahadur Gurung, makes an annual average profit of almost Rs 20 lakh after meeting all the required expenses such as labour charge, salary of employess, provision of feed and other miscellaneous expenses.
His annual income through trout farming often surpasses the income of any well-placed government employees.
Kal Bahadur Gurung, who is into rainbow trout farming since 2012, said, “Though trout farming is a challenging job which requiring a great deal of labour and hectic working schedules, I have been able to earn enough to manage a livelihood free of any economic constraints since I delved into trout farming.”
Gurung, who used to drive a taxi to make ends meet a decade ago, has now been able to earn both name and fortune through trout farming and has become an individual to look up to as far as trout farming in the State is concerned.
He has experience, expertise and enthusiasm to share his vast knowledge of trout farming to any interested farmers.
So far, Gurung has received a national level award for best fish farmers from a Central agricultural university, the trout hatchery award for north eastern region and others.
Gurung added that apart from minor setbacks, he has never suffered any major loss in trout farming and he has been able to bring about an aspired improvement in his livelihood.
Gurung not only deals in trout farming but also trout seed hatchery and sale. This year, he was able to fetch Rs. 2.8 lakh through trout seed sale.
The concerned department as part of an initiative to promote trout farming in the State buys trout seeds from Gurung and distributes the same to the interested fish farmers free of cost. Similarly, other trout growers also approach Gurung for the seeds
Gurung does not deny the fact that trout farming has numerous challenges to take care of to ensure a successful yield from the farming. Apart from ensuring continuous flow of fresh water to raceways, providing required treatment, managing high cost of feed and other minor tasks takes a tremendous toll on the farmers. He opines that making profit from any venture is not as easy as the people assume and trout farming requires a great deal of passion and commitment.
Gurung shared that he had started his trout farming venture with a single raceway with assistance from State’s directorate of fisheries. In due course of time and from the profit earned from his initial venture, he was able add more raceways in his farm.
Gurung who at one point of his life had struggled to find a sustainable way of livelihood now has been able to provide jobs to local youth in his farm. He has 6-7 youths as his regular employees who lend him necessary support to run his farm and sometime an extra workforce has to be ensured as per the requirement during peak season. As employment opportunity in the government sector is getting difficult to access, the youth may explore the employment available in other private sector such as farming, he added.

Government support
On the support from the concerned department, Gurung appreciated the way the directorate of fisheries has assisted the aspiring trout farmers such as him. He expressed that credit goes to the concerned department for the development and promotion of trout farming in Siribadam.
"The directorate of fisheries has been instrumental in providing training to trout farmers and other necessary assistance. Some effective fishery-based initiatives of the concerned department have helped more numbers of farmers embracing fish farming in Siribadam,” he said.
As per the report of the directorate of fisheries, almost 70% of farmers in rural Siribadam are into trout farming as the region offers suitable condition for trout farming along with abundant availability of fresh water. Many educated and unemployed youth of Siribadam have chosen trout farming instead of running after government employment opportunity.
The place offers a new experience for the consumers to deal in variety of trout along availability with live fish vending centre nearby the town. Opportunity of bargain is always available while someone wants to take fresh trout home. However, some farmers have been facing difficulties in finding easy marketing facilities.
Considering the cost of rearing, price of a kilogram of trout remains high making the local marketing outlets unable to keep the fish for sale as the cost is hardly affordable for the local consumers.

Challenges of marketing linkages
Trout Rearing Cooperative Society and Fish Farmers Producers Organisation (FINS) formed by the fish farmers of Siribadam have been working to sort out the issues related to marketing and the effort is being made to explore the marketing facilities within and outside the State. These two organisations are also working on a concept such as availing ready- to-eat fish items, preserved fish products and others with an objective to create easy marketing facilities.
FINS president Arpan Gurung informed that the marketing of trout is being initiated through an outlet located in Gangtok. But such a small outlet cannot meet the marketing aspirations of trout fish farmers, he added.
Arpan opines that opening trout fish outlets in urbanized areas such as Gangtok and Namchi and making provision of trout supply to the hotels and restuarants having demand of luxury food items can be an effective method to push forward the trout marketing in the State. He added that addition of trout menu in food items may help in promotion of trout in the State.
"Somehow, we are marketing trout within the State but availability of an easy marketing facility is what we are looking for. Expansion of trout market will not only promote trout farming but it will encourage more numbers of farmers to take off trout farming", Arpan said.
Sikkim ranks third in the country in trout production after Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, and prospects in trout farming as per the experts is great in Sikkim considering the suitable climatic conditions and availability of fresh water. The directorate of fisheries has been working committedly to engage more numbers of farmers in trout farming through various schemes and initiatives.
If trout farming and its marketing is maintained in a proper way then in near future Sikkim will emerge as a trout hub in the country having facilities of export globally.