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 models utilising ecosystem services with participation of local people. Ezhikkara is a coastal village surrounded by brackishwater creeks and Pokkali paddy-shrimp fields located in Paravur Taluk of Ernakulam District, Kerala, south India. To address the employment issues among rural youth, Ernakulam Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) of ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (ICAR-CMFRI), initiated cage fish culture in the Veerampuzha public water body in association with Pallikkal Service Cooperative Bank (PSCB). Local youth were trained in the technical aspects of cage fish culture and the bank provided financial support for implementing cage fish farming. The fish produced were marketed directly to the customers through farmgate markets. Farmers sold live fish directly at the farm gate by attracting consumers through advertisements floated by the KVK. They were sufficiently educated to fix uniform pricing to avoid farmer-farmer competition in direct marketing. An online fish delivery 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 income source. The main challenges faced during the implementation of cage fish culture was the presence of invasive black mussel (Mytella strigata), annual flooding and the massive accumulation of weed plant Eichhornia crassipes. This experience unravels the requirement of continuous technical backstopping for marginalised communities to successfully implement technology-based farming models as alternate livelihood sources.