The Government of Pakistan, assisted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations through the Technical Cooperation Programme, is engaged in project TCP/PAK/6760, Introduction of low-cost fish-farming in rural areas, whose main objective is to transfer fish culture knowledge in rural areas of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) by establishing three demonstration sites of low-cost fish-farms. This is with a view to motivating the private sector to produce protein by utilizing simple aquaculture techniques on available land and water.
As part of the project operations, FAO assigned Mr K.G. Rajbanshi as consultant with the following terms of reference:
The consultant, in close cooperation with the Assistant Director, Fisheries Department, will carry out the following duties:
select three sites of waste land which have a perennial source of water and appear suitable for fish-farming from the technical point of view;
prepare a list of all necessary equipment and supplies needed for the establishment of three fish ponds. All supplies and equipment will be procured from the local market;
assist in establishing the fish ponds as far as possible and give clear instructions for their completion;
provide on-the-job training to counterparts and recipient farmers;
in his second visit, attend harvesting operations and evaluate marketing and possible follow-up action and extension scheme;
prepare mission reports, a work plan and a draft Terminal Report.
The project was originally planned for an 18-month duration; with a fish-farming consultancy divided into three short missions (6 weeks, 2 weeks, and 2 weeks). However, realizing the importance of the presence of the consultant during the implementation of the project, the consultancy was revised to periods of 2 weeks, 4 weeks and 2 weeks. It was thus aimed to cover the first and second aspects of the above terms of reference during the first mission of the consultant; the third and fourth aspects in the second mission; while the fifth and sixth, in the third and final mission, should respond to the target of the project.
In accordance with the revised consultancy period, the fish-farming consultant was assigned to his first mission in August 1987 during which time he fulfilled the assigned first and second points of his terms of reference, and prepared a report on “Selection of sites for the development of low-cost fish farming”, along with Guidelines for the implementation of the project activities (FI:TCP/PAK/6760, Field Document 1, October 1987).
This present report, Field Document 2, covers the second mission (13 November-14 December 1987).
