Sanjivani Sugar factory in association with the fisheries department has launched a fish culture at a farm in Dharbandora where around 1500 baby fish consisting of Mrigal, Rahu, and Catla variety were released into a pond.
The launching of pisciculture was done at the hands of Megha Kerkar, Deputy Director of the Fisheries Department in the presence of Satej Kamat, Administrator of the Sugar Factory, and other officials of the fisheries department and the sugar factory.
According to Kerkar, the baby fish variety released in the pond can grow up to 1-1.5 kg with a culture period of 6 to 7 months. By April or May, the factory will be able to start selling the fish.
Kamat stated that through fish culture, the sugarcane factory has attempted an integrated farming method and through this pilot project, the factory aims to earn an income of around Rs 2-5 lakh for the factory with around 2 tonnes of freshwater fish production.
For the project, the factory has converted a two-meter-deep trench spread across a 20-by-10-metre area into a fish pond. The trench is one of three large ones on the farmland owned by the sugar mill and which was once used to dump sugarcane waste. If this attempt is successful, the factory plans to have two more fish culture units for which the fisheries department has assured all support.
Through this project, the factory proposes to give buyers the liberty to choose their fish from the pond.
Arrangements have also been made for a breeding site where algae and other fish food will be grown, he said.
The factory will also set up a fish-cutting and selling outlet beside its vegetable outlet along the national highway.
