ISLAMABAD: Aqua polyculture – an unconventional but profitable farming practice – offers cash-strapped Pakistan an opportunity to fetch a fortune and alleviate poverty, reports WealthPK.
Talking about aqua polyculture, Director General of Fisheries of Sindh Dr. Mir Allah Dad Talpur told WealthPK, “Polyculture is one of the oldest but smartest techniques to rear multiple species of aquatic organisms in the same pond. It is four times more profitable to get quality output than the regular production by maintaining a few factors, such as fertilization, stocking, environment, and sufficient supply of feed and oxygen.’’
He said fish species with different feeding habits were cultured effectively for quality outputs through polyculture.
‘’It is important to choose the species with a few characteristics, i.e. high growth rate, disease-resistance, having more flesh but consuming less food than body weight, growing and producing naturally, such as minnows, especially of the carp family, and low mortality rate in high density.”
From economic point of view, he said, the selected edible aquatic organisms should be rich in nutrition and taste as well as high in demand in both raw and value-added forms.
‘’Although it is an altogether new concept for our regular farmers or non-conventional farming lovers, it is manageable, space-saving, and profit-oriented.
This is the usually practiced system in the country wherever fish farming on a commercial scale is done. More development can be done in this sector to make it more sustainable for the socioeconomic benefit of farming communities,” added Dr. Mir Allah Dad Talpur. –INP
