Multistakeholder partnership in implementing cage fish culture as a livelihood venture for rural youth: A case study in Kerala State, south India

Abstract

Rural development is a process of implementing location-specific sustainable modelsutilising ecosystem services with participation of local people. Ezhikkara is a coastalvillage surrounded by brackishwater creeks and Pokkali paddy-shrimp fields located inParavur Taluk of Ernakulam District, Kerala, south India. To address the employment issuesamong rural youth, Ernakulam Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) of ICAR-Central Marine FisheriesResearch Institute (ICAR-CMFRI), initiated cage fish culture in the Veerampuzha public waterbody in association with Pallikkal Service Cooperative Bank (PSCB). Local youth were trainedin the technical aspects of cage fish culture and the bank provided financial support forimplementing cage fish farming. The fish produced were marketed directly to the customersthrough farmgate markets. Farmers sold live fish directly at the farm gate by attractingconsumers through advertisements floated by the KVK. They were sufficiently educated tofix uniform pricing to avoid farmer-farmer competition in direct marketing. An online fishdelivery mechanism by pre-bookings through a mobile application was also established.The cage fish culture got wide acceptance among the rural youth as an alternate incomesource. The main challenges faced during the implementation of cage fish culture wasthe presence of invasive black mussel (Mytella strigata), annual flooding and the massiveaccumulation of weed plant Eichhornia crassipes. This experience unravels the requirementof continuous technical backstopping for marginalised communities to successfullyimplement technology-based farming models as alternate livelihood sources. Keywords:Asian seabass, Aquaculture, Cage fish culture, Live fish, Marketing