How an FPO in Barpeta, Assam, has left fish farmers swimming in profits

Barpeta, Assam

Barpeta district is one of the low-lying areas in Assam. It is drained by the Brahmaputra and its tributaries. The district also has many beels (lakes) and swamps, created by the southward shift of the Brahmaputra. These water bodies are ideal for agriculture and pisciculture.

According to the Assam Statistical Handbook 2021, published by the state government, there are 25,225 registered ponds and tanks in the district covering an area of 4718.95 hectares. There are also 77 beels where fishing is permitted. Also, most rural households have at least one pond for fish for their own consumption. According to the Yearly Handbook of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), the fish production of the Barpeta district in 2020-21 was 26,115 metric tonnes.

In 2018, when Shyamal Kumar Dey, the district development manager with NABARD, visited Rajarkhat area in Barpeta district, he saw the fish farmers were struggling. They had very low income, lacked technical support and scientific training, and could not source good quality fish feed.

It was then that NABARD mooted the idea of a Farmers Producers Organisation (FPO) to organise the local farmers and increase their earnings. An FPO was formed at Fingua, Barpeta district, about 100 kms west of the state capital, Dispur, and 506 farmers from in and around Fingua signed up for it.

NABARD offered technical and administrative help in starting and running the FPO. The main aim of the FPO is to unite the small-scale fish producers, offer them technological and scientific help, increase their income and improve their livelihood. Ever since then there has been no looking back for the members of this FPO.

Two years back, in 2020, the Fingua FPO started a new fish kata (wholesale fish market) to cater to the needs of the farmers in the FPO, and ensure a quality fish feed supply for them. This had a tremendous impact, claim the local farmers. On an average, according to Dey, 1,000 to 12,000 quintals of fish are sold per quarter at this kata.

“Earlier, we had to spend money transporting our produce long distances (10-12 km) to the fish kata. But this one is close to where we are and it has cut down the transportation cost,” said Javed Ali, who has been trading his fish since 2010. “Besides, now we sell our own fish and once we start distributing the profit from the FPO, it will add to our margins," he added.

The Fingua FPO has brought about significant change in the lives and livelihoods of the fish farmers, said Shyamal Kumar Dey of NABARD. “The cost and time required to sell fish have reduced. Fish farmers can invest that time and money into their fisheries. This has improved their income,” he said.

Pre vs Post FPO

Before 2018, when the fish farmer of Barpeta sold fish at the local kata, he had to pay the kata Rs 9.50 per every hundred rupees he earned. So, if he sold fish worth 10,000 rupees, the kata was paid Rs 950. This fee, along with the cost of labour, transportation, and investment in his fish left the farmer with little way of saving. There were times the farmers barely recovered their farming cost, they complained.

The Fingua FPO, on the other hand, takes a commission of Rs 5.50 per Rs 100 earned from its farmers. This has nearly halved the expenses of the farmers. And, as the new kata is located within 1-2 km radius of their fisheries, the transportation and labour costs have reduced too.

According to Dey of NABARD, before 2018, the fish farmers had to depend on katas far away to sell their fish. “Now the fish is theirs, the kata is theirs and they can also share the profit from the kata,” said the official.

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Javed Ali from Fingua explained the benefits of the FPO to the farmers. Ali has a fishery of four bighas with 12,000 fishes and he earns about Rs 80,000 a bigha per year. This is double what he used to earn before he signed up with the Fingua FPO. “The formation of the FPO was the best thing to happen to us,” he said.

According to Ali, prior to that, they were working in the dark with no real information or awareness about the best way to farm the fish. “We did not know what was the right amount and frequency of putting fertilisers into the water. And, we blindly followed what marketing representatives told us to further their own profits,” he continued.

Siddique Talukdar, also from Fingua village, couldn’t agree more with Javed Ali. He said that the fish kata established by the Fingua FPO with the help of NABARD had changed the fortunes of the fish farmers who were part of the FPO.

“We were once at the mercy of other katas, but now we sell our fish to businessmen from not just Barpeta district, but also Nalbari, Baksa, and Chirang districts," Talukdar said. “The FPO had improved their lot as farmers and as businessmen,” he added.

“We were taught how to feed the fishes scientifically. They explained that to make the fish grow larger, it is important that we maintain a standard ratio of fish vs area. We never considered these points before,” said Talukdar.

The fish farmers were educated about the right quantities of fertilisers to be administered for best results. “Our trainers explained that while using more fertilisers can increase production quickly, it would destroy the quality of our fish and the pond in the long run. We are now mindful about how much chemical goes into the pond so that we never compromise with our customer's health,” Ali said.

“Earlier, I used to produce eight to nine quintals of fish every year. Now, the production has increased upto twelve quintals,” he added.

“The organisational support and technical hand-holding NABARD offered was invaluable and we will always be grateful to the bank for making it happen,” Ali, the FPO member said.

Training, technical knowhow and a 20% income increase

When NABARD came into the picture, the fisheries began to get more streamlined. “Training sessions and workshops by NABARD opened our eyes to more efficient ways of fish farming. Trainers took us under their wing and with the scientific information they gave us and the technical know-how on maintaining our ponds and feeding our fishes; our production and quality both went up,” Ali said. “Besides giving us hands-on training, they also taught us standard pisciculture practices, and helped us in marketing,” he said.

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NABARD officials also insisted on using high-quality fish feed, proper use of fish medicine, fertilisers, and debugging ponds without using harsh chemicals. To fulfil these goals, NABARD organised training for the fisheries where resource persons from Assam Agricultural University and Assam Fishery Department. During these training programmes, farmers were educated on how FPOs work and technical know-how of scientific pisciculture.

For Sanmul Haque from Fingua, who owns three ponds of two, six and fourteen bighas respectively, the biggest advantage of being part of the FPO has been the training and technical knowhow he received from NABARD. “I went to Guwahati where trainers told me about scientific ways that would increase my productivity,” he said.

The fish farmer said the way he farms now, the quality of fish and the productivity had increased. But, Haque was reluctant to divulge what his profits were after he became a member of the FPO. All he would say was, “More than any monetary gains, what the FPO has done for me has made me into a smart businessman. It has taught me how to optimise my resources,” he said

According to Dey, there has been a nearly twenty per cent hike in the income of the farmers after the FPO came into existence. “As the scale and size of the fisheries differ, the profit also differs, but it is definitely much higher than what it was pre-2018. Their main profit lies with facilities they now have access to,” he added.

Javed Ali, for whom the FPO has been a saviour, said that now there was just one more thing their FPO needed to do and that was to establish a scientific hatchery near their village. “This way we can control the quality of the fish fries. Now, we buy them from other sources. Once we have our own hatchery, the FPO will be self-sustainable,” he said.

More farmers demand an FPO

There are still many parts of the Barpeta district, where fish farmers have limited access to scientific measures. Hemanta Deka from Barpeta owns three fisheries spanning nearly 12 acres with more than 60,000 fish. He knows better than anyone what a struggle it is for fish farmers to survive. Though he is not part of any FPO, he is a wholesaler who supplies fish to different parts of lower Assam. He has 15 full-time employees working for him. During peak season and festivals, he also recruits temporary labour.

According to 58-year-old Deka, the fishery industry is largely an unorganised one, and minimum wages vary from area to area. The middlemen do their bit to further leave the small fish farmers with very little or no profit at all. “There is no fixed rate for selling fish at the kata, and fish farmers are at the mercy of the kata owners. The fact that they are poor, not united and illiterate adds to their woes and makes them vulnerable to exploitation,” he pointed out.

An FPO could change all that, felt Deka. If FPOs were formed, the economic condition of the farmers could improve significantly.

“You do not need to teach farmers of Barpeta how to farm. All they need is support to eliminate the middlemen and marketing. If the farmers control the market, the fish industry in the Barpeta district will be more productive and thriving,” he said.

The Fingua FPO example is a case in point. It has eliminated the middlemen and the farmers are calling the shots. They have shares in the profit, too.

Deka observed that if illiteracy was tackled, and scientific methods were introduced to the fish farmers, the fishery industry of Barpeta could employ more than 40,000 people every day. “But it will need the strong intervention of banking institutions and local governing bodies, and clean and easy access to markets,” he pointed out.

There is no reason why the FPO could not be replicated elsewhere, said Dey of NABARD. “Given proper direction, an FPO can help everyone associated with it. In Fingua, it has become a beacon of hope to the farmers. Not only are they earning more, but they have become proper businessmen. The feeling of ownership was new to these farmers and it has become their motivation to work harder and smarter,” Dey remarked.

This story has been done as part of a partnership with NABARD.

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