THE INITIATIVE

• Introduction of prawn cultivation in salineaffected wastelands

THE BENEFICIARIES

• Farmers of uncultivable wastelands in Rohtak district, Haryana

THE CHALLENGE

• Poor agricultural practices which had resulted in salineaffected wastelands
• Resistance to new methods of farming
• Lack of information about prawn cultivation and scepticism about its viability

THE SOLUTION

• NABARD sanctioned a project to the Central Institute of Fisheries Education
• Farmers leased part of their saline lands to CIFE and took up shrimp cultivation under its guidance
• Disease-free tiger shrimp larvae (seed) were imported from Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh
• Farmers were brought within the fold of JLGs

THE IMPACT

• Salinity-affected uncultivable wastelands now an economic asset for farmers
• Farmers sell shrimps in markets in Delhi at the rate of ? 400 per kg
• Local farmers and their collectives are now players in the tiger shrimp market in Delhi