Basudevpur: Alternative livelihood can help farmers recoup the losses caused by nature during paddy cultivation.
This was proved by a farmer of Balibindha village in Bhadrak district who reaped a fortune from pearl cultivation with the help of the Central Institute of Freshwater and Aquaculture (CIFA) in Bhubaneswar, a subsidiary of the Indian Agriculture Research Institute.
Balaram Behera harvested pearls from the shells which he had cultivated in the Tampudia pond of the village Monday.
Balaram who was new to pearl culture was initially apprehensive of taking it up, but did not mind taking the risk when the CIFA assured him guidance. His success in pearl culture has made him an example for others.
Balaram’s joy knew no bounds when pearls were harvested from the shells cultivated by him in the pond in the presence of Dr Sailesh Sourav and Dr Utkal Lakshmi Mohanty, two senior CIFA scientists Monday.
Balaram underwent training in freshwater pearl culture under CIFA as part of an entrepreneurship development programme, and released around 1,000 shells of a species in the pond.
The shells grew within a year and Balaram collected around 800 shells alive from the pond. A woman farmer named Malavika Muduli trained by CIFA extracted the pearls from the shells. This spread cheer among the villagers and scientists as they were surprised to see the pearls extracted by Malavika from the shells.
Balaram said he was inspired to take up pearl culture after CIFA scientists promised him help. The pearls extracted from the shells are in high demand in metropolitan cities like New Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore and Mumbai where it is used for making ornaments.
Balaram said he had invested Rs 1.50 lakh for cultivation in a pond spread over an acre. One year is required for the pearls to mature and become ripe for harvest. He expressed the hope that the harvested pearls would fetch him around Rs 3 lakh.
Farmers Nirakar Muduli, Narayan Behera and Manjulata Behera also shared their experiences in pearl culture which fetched them good money.
CIFA scientists Sourav said pearl culture is a profitable business which can help farmers economically.