Techno-economic Analysis of Carp Farming Practices in Krishnagiri District, Tamil Nadu, India

Aquaculture represents the most efficient and sustainable way to guarantee that there is enough protein to feed the world with increasing population. Since carp farming is a promising enterprise, study on the economics and technical bottlenecks on regional basis is highly necessary. Kaveripattinam block of Krishnagiri district was selected purposively because of its rich inland resource endowments. The study was conducted to understand the technical and economic viability of carp culture (Integrated and backyard) and to identify the operational constraints in farming practice. Totally, 31 carp farmers were randomly selected and information based on the specified objectives was collected using a structured interview schedule. Descriptive statistics, costing and Garette ranking techniques were used for analysis. The study revealed that the experience in farming activity lie with a mean of 4.77 years and small farms occupied the major share (81%). Among the reported, three species combination was adopted by 67.74% of the farmers. The economics of carp culture was calculated through estimation of Cost A, Cost B and Cost C with an Original Research Article Chidambaram et al.; AJAEES, 12(1): 1-8, 2016; Article no.AJAEES.26953 2 average output of 586.75 kg/ha/yr and a net income of Rs. 23,623.35/ha @ Rs. 75/kg on an average. Among the variable inputs, seed cost accounted the major share (16.11%) followed by feed (13.58%). Non availability of credit (59.15), lack of quality seed (63.25) and improper guidance (69.00) were perceived as major resource, production and management constraints, respectively. Other constraints include uncertainty in demand, competition and absence of government institutions for marketing.


INTRODUCTION
Fisheries in India is a very important economic activity and a flourishing sector with varied resources and potentials. Only after the Indian Independence, fisheries together with agriculture have been recognized as an important sector. Besides meeting the domestic needs, the dependence of people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and foreign exchange earnings amply justifies the importance of the sector on the country's economy and in livelihood security. Aquaculture represents the most efficient and sustainable way to guarantee that there is enough protein to feed a world whose population is increasing for which it requires high capital inputs, technical knowhow and ownership of or access to land/water resources [1]. The main opportunities for aquaculture development are the large local market demand for fish, the availability of skilled technicians to manage commercial operations, local feedstuffs that can be used in the production of pellet feeds. On the other hand, the main constraints behind the aquaculture development are lack of capital investment, restricted availability of suitable sites for farming, issues around the importation of feed ingredients, lack of infrastructure to support aquaculture and absence of technology transfer programs. The highest priority for action is the development of a local cost-effective aqua feed production unit. Other priorities include the need for a system to provide farmers with information and training, the need to develop and demonstrate successful and commercially profitable production system models, and the need to develop and implement a coordinated plan to support government policy. Since carp farming, a promising enterprise is gaining momentum, study on the economics and technical bottlenecks of fish culture on regional basis is highly necessary. In this line, the present work was undertaken to study the socioeconomic profile of carp farmers, to analyze the technical and economic viability of carp culture (Integrated and backyard), to identify the operational constraints in farming practice and to suggest suitable policy measures to overcome the hurdles faced by the fish farmers of the study area in Kaveripattinam block of Krishnagiri district, Tamil Nadu.

Study Area
The Kaveripattinam block ( Fig. 1) comprises of 151 farms (51.381 ha), Tanks (560.65 ha) and small, medium and large reservoirs [2]. More than 90% of the lands are fed with canal water from Krishnagiri dam and the main cropping pattern is paddy and coconut. Apart from agriculture, the farmers are also involved in livestock farming and fisheries activities like composite fish culture, seed rearing, catfish farming (Clarias gariepinus) and tilapia farming. Pertaining to pisciculture, carp farming has been largely adopted in multipurpose small ponds under extensive method with farm made feed (Integrated and Backyard).

Sample Size
The study was conducted during May to October 2015 among the carp farmers of Kaveripattinam block, Krishnagiri district. The data were collected from the random samples of 31 fish farmers. Based on the objectives of the study, the information pertaining to was collected by using a structured interview schedule and observation methods.

Tools of Analysis
Cost was ascertained annually by using different costing principles such as Cost 'A', Cost 'B' and Cost 'C' as shown below: Cost A= comprises cash and kind expenses (paid out costs) actually incurred by the carp cultivators which includes expenses incurred for i) carp seed; ii) manure and fertilizer; iii) feed; iv) hired human labour; v) depreciation; vi) lease amount; vii) interest on working capital and viii) other expenses Cost B = Cost A + Interest on fixed assets (excluding land) + Rental value of owned pond Cost C = Cost B + Imputed value of family labour [3] Apart from this, data on the socio-economic variables viz., age, education, experience, investment, number of crops per year, annual income, and on the constraints in the adoption of aquaculture practices were collected. The data were analyzed statistically for percentage, mean, and standard deviation. Garrett ranking technique was employed to identify the preference of the constraints faced by the farmers. For converting the scores assigned by the farmers towards the particular constraint, the percent position for each rank was worked out using the following formula By referring to Garrett's table, the percent positions estimated were converted into scores. The scores of various respondents were added and the mean values were calculated and arranged in descending order. The factors with the highest mean value was considered to be the most important, followed by second, third and so on [4].

Socio-economic Profile of Carp Farmers
The socio-economic profile of fish farmers in Kaveripattinam block is detailed in Table 1. The age of the carp farmer varied from 26 to 62 years with a mean of 45.39 years and co-efficient of variation (C.V) of 20.16%. The literacy level was measured on scoring pattern of five point rating scale viz., illiterate, schooling up to 5 th , 6 th to 10 th , 11 th to 12 th and graduate with a score of 1,2,3,4 and 5, respectively. It was found that 45% of the farmers had schooling from 6 th to 12 th and 39% towards graduation (mean -3.94, S.D -0.93 and C.V -23.60%). With respect to the experience in farming activity, it lies between 3 to 13 years with a mean of 4.77 years which indicates the scope for technical intervention in aquaculture in Krishnagiri block besides the vast fishery resource potential. On the other hand, the annual income was recorded as Rs. 0.73 lakhs, varying from Rs. 0.25 to 2.5 lakhs, as the farmers are undertaking carp farming as secondary occupation that too of integrated in practice.

Farm Details
The randomly selected farms were classified as small (<0.5 ha), medium (0.5-1.0 ha) and large (>1.0 ha) with an average farm size of 0.083 ha, 0.616 ha and 1.443 ha, respectively. Among the reported, small farms occupied the major share (81%) followed by medium (13%) and large (6%) as in Table 2.

Composition of Fish Species
Composite carp culture is being adopted with a species range of two to six. Catla, Rohu and Mrigal were commonly cultivated by 61.3% of the farmers, followed by Catla and Rohu species by 9.7% of the farmers. Considering the species composition, three species combination was adopted by majority of the farmers (67.74%), followed by two (16.13%), four (12.90%), and six (3.23%) species (Table 3).

Technical Details
Fish culture in Krishnagiri district has been practiced in an extensive method. It was observed that the most of the carp farming practices were taken up as a single tier household enterprise with an average culture period of seven months and 60% survival ( Table  4). The economic viability of integrated fish farming practiced by the farmers of Assam in North-Eastern part of India following extensive farming practices using low input technology was evaluated. The study revealed that integrated pig-fish farming with 6 species composition of fish namely catla, rohu, mrigal, silver carp, common carp and grass carp was the most extensively used farming system and was the most profitable enterprise followed by horti-pigfish, poultry-fish and horti-fish farming [5].
Stocking of carps was about 45% higher than the advocated level of stocking. Farm made feed composed of rice bran, Ground Nut Oil Cake (GNOC) and Tapioca floor was generally used wherein the protein requirement of the feed was not taken into account. Also, the feeding was carried out without calculation of the total biomass of the ecosystem. Hence, the farmers were liable to pay more money for feeding the fish. The FCR was about to be 2.5 in the surveyed farms.

Economics of Carp Culture
Economic efficiency is a combination of technical and allocate efficiencies [6]. The economics of carp culture was calculated through estimation of Cost A, Cost B and Cost C as shown in Table 5.
Carp yield relies on the use of quantity of variable inputs like seed, manure, feed, fertilizers, labour etc. Inflation rate has been increased gradually and cost of ingredients and fertilizer are also increased which affect the cost of production or the profit in fish culture practices. Among the variable inputs, seed cost accounted for 16.11%, followed by feed (13.58%), manure (5.44%), pond preparation ( [8] compared the production and economics of three types of fish culture methods namely commercial feed based culture system, conventional feed based culture system and extensive method without feed. He found that highest production was recorded for commercial feed based culture system (3500 kg/ha/crop) when compared to other two systems i.e. 2500 kg/ha/crop for conventional feed based culture system & 1200 kg/ha/crop for extensive method without feed. The report also stated that more gross income was realised for commercial feed based system with an amount of Rs. 2.10 lakhs and the lowest was accounted for extensive method without feed (Rs. 0.72 lakhs) which clearly shows that the profit is more in commercial feed based system.

Marketing Channel
Four types of marketing channel were commonly observed wherein Channel I was adopted frequently in the study region.

Constraints Analysis
The shortlisted constraints in farming practices categorized as resource, production and management were analysed for its order of merit (Tables 6, 7,8 and 9).
Majority of the farmers revealed that non availability of credit was the main constraint (59.15) followed by seasonal water supply (58.45) as shown in Table 6. The farmers informed that insufficient farm area, inadequate transport facility, labour problem and environmental factors were the other inhibiting factors faced by the carp farmers. Study on block-wise and constraint analysis in Uttar Pradesh revealed that lack of finance was the most deterrent factor and prices of inputs like seed, feed, manure fertilizers, harvesting charges and rental value of leased ponds was perceived as the third most important problem by all the respondents [9].
The results (Table 7) revealed that nonavailability of adequate quality seed (63.25) was observed as the major constraint as the farmers have to depend only on the seeds of government seed production centres based at Krishnagiri Dam and Hogainakkal. Additionally, the farmers felt that lack of technically skilled personnel for guiding them in fish culture (57.2), availability of commercial fish feed at high price (56.25) and disease outbreak (51.55) as major constraints. Pandey and Dewan [9] shared that assured supply of quality seed at the time of stocking was considered as the most important problem to the farmers. Nandeesha et al. [10] conducted a study in the feed management of major carps in India, with special reference to practices adopted in Tamil Nadu. The results showed that carp farming has gained popularity, particularly in areas such as Thanjavur District where water is not a major constraint; farmers have begun to realize the benefits of feeding floating pellets. However, availability and delivery to farmers are major constraints hindering the expansion of pellet feed-based carp culture.
Improper guidance was the first and foremost management constraint for the farmers with a mean score of 69. The other constraints include predation by birds/animals followed by pilfering and social problems (Table 8). Theft and poaching were considered as major inhibiting factors in case of village panchayat ponds [9]. Lack of timely selling of the produce 295 59 III Lack of fish market for selling the produce was found to be major marketing constraint with the score value of 87 followed by location of farms in interior areas (75) and lack of timely selling of the produce (59) as depicted in Table 9.
The other constraints faced by the farmers were the uncertainty in demand, competition, and absence of Government institutions for marketing. Similar constraints like lack of infrastructures like road, cold storage and transportation facilities and lack of extension support were considered as the problems in the study carried out by Pandey and Dewan [9].

POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
• Supply of quality fish seeds produced in bio-secured method should be ensured by the regional fisheries departments and research stations • The government should enforce BMPs in all fish farms for quality fish production and safe environment • Existence of block level Fisheries extension officers to guide the farmers in fish farming should be made. • Mini fish feed mill could be established wherein locally available agricultural farm wastes can be effectively utilized for low cost feed production under PPP mode • Farm inputs like seed, feed, fertilizers should be supplied and credit facility be enabled through societies as practiced in primary agricultural co-operative societies in each union for fish farmers.

CONCLUSION
Carp farming in Krishnagiri district finds its expansion due to good source of water. The study revealed that lack of scientific knowledge on fish farming, high feed and seed cost and poor technical skills are the reasons for realizing a low income of Rs. 23,623.35/ha. Empowering fish farmers on scientific fish farming through training and extending institutional support through supply of quality seed and farm inputs would help the farmers in rational decision of resource use and enhanced income and fish production. The price of fish could also be enhanced by adopting live fish marketing and direct marketing. In this line, the government institutions namely fisheries departments, fisheries research institutes and banks should address the requirements and bottlenecks to promote carp farming as a highly profitable enterprise in the locality.