Fish culture is not common practice among the rural farmers as most of them are not aware of its potential. Only limited numbers of progressive farmers have taken up fish culture, on an as yet small scale and the present management needs considerable improvement.
However, more farmers are becoming interested in fish culture along with other activities of agriculture. A few have already constructed ponds while others are planning to do so. Technical assistance is urgently needed. The public sector institution, the Directorate of Fisheries, ICT, is small and handicapped by lack of facilities and trained manpower to be able to assist the private sector farmers.
Scarcity of water and poor soil texture are considered limiting factors for the expansion of fish culture in the greater part of the ICT. However, during the field trips a number of “pockets” have been observed along the rivers - Kurang, Gumerah, Soan as well as deep tubewell areas where conditions were favourable and could present considerable scope. Therefore, it is suggested to base the fish culture development on these potential pockets only.
Moreover, the poultry and vegetable farming activities in these pockets offer even further possibilities in that they could be integrated with fish culture and help keep down production costs.
