Growth of forward and backward industries linked with aquaculture in Kolleru Lake area, Andhra Pradesh, India

Growth of forward and backward industries linked with aquaculture in Kolleru Lake area, Andhra Pradesh, India

• October 2008:
• The Asia magazine October-December 2008

• Project: 
• Fisheries/Aquaculture Econometrics/Statistics

• Ajit kumar Roy
• G. S. Saha
• P. Kumaraiah
• N. Sarangi
•                                                   Abstract 
  Kolleru Lake is the largest natural freshwater lake in India, located between the deltas of the Krishna and Godavari rivers, with a surface area of around 901 km2 at +10’ MSL contour. Kolleru Lake serves as a natural fl ood balancing reservoir for the two rivers. The lake is fed directly by the seasonal Budameru and Tammileru rivers and is connected to the Krishna and Godavari systems by over 68 infl owing drains and channels. The lake is an important habitat for a variety of resident and migratory birds, including the Grey or Spot-billed Pelican. A notifi ed wildlife sanctuary, the lake was designated a wetland of international importance in November 2002 under the International Ramsar Convention. The Kolleru region is inhabited by a population of 200,000 people (1981 census) distributed in 60 bed habitations and 98 belt habitations spread over in 73 revenue villages including hamlets. The bed villages are island villages and the belt villages are border villages of lake. The major occupation of the residents in the bed habitation is fi shing. The major occupation of the people of the belt habitation is agriculture which includes the cultivation of the lakeside areas in the upper reaches. Kolleru has been dominated by capture fi sheries and aquaculture practices in this region were initiated in the 80’s and have undergone rapid expansion and intensifi cation taking the carp culture area in Andhra Pradesh state to about 80,000 ha. Almost 98% of the carp culture in Andhra Pradesh state is developed in and around Kolleru. Freshwater aquaculture incorporating carp species is a popular enterprise in Kolleru Lake region. The semi-intensive culture system practiced by the farmers has a production range of 7.5 – 12.5 metric tonnes/ha/year and contributes the major share to annual state production of 600,000 metric tonnes, achieved by growing basically two species rohu (80%) and catla (20%) with rare addition of mrigal or other species, in heavily fed and fertilized ponds of different sizes (Ramakrishna, 2007). In the course of time fi sh farming in this region has gathered a lot of momentum and grown into a substantial industry, stimulating the growth of a number of subsidiary industries. This has boosted the rural economy of the region with a huge potential for additional income and employment generation. The system is not only supporting thousands of people engaged directly in farming but also hundreds of thousands of people in allied industries and services. Taking into account this huge potential of aquaculture development in Kolleru Lake, a survey was conducted to study the growth of various backward and forward linkage industries related to aquaculture because input and supply agencies, services etc. form an important value chain in aquaculture systems.