A state-run fish farming scheme in Odisha creates livelihood opportunity in drought-hit villages, brings migrants home
Abhijit Mohanty
Narahari Jani throws a net to catch fish from his pond at Jhalaguda village in Laxmipur block in Koraput district. Abhijit Mohanty/The Migration Story.
BALIGUDA, Odisha: For years, Nilima Khilla, 33, was the sole worker on the family-owned 2.4 acre farm in an eastern Indian village. She grew millets, paddy and vegetables while her husband Rama Khilla toiled at a brick kiln in southern India. The couple’s income, however, was still not enough to sustain their family of four.
But when Khilla sold 180 kilograms of fish two years ago for about Rs. 30,000 - defying sceptics in her village who were doubtful of this state-backed fish farming scheme in their drought-hit village - Rama returned.
Khilla, a Kondh adivasi and resident of Baliguda village of Odisha’s Koraput district, has emerged as the poster girl for fish farming in her village, as the first woman fish farmer to show profit on the new business, which helped her husband take a decision to return to his village from the brick kiln in Tamil Nadu where he worked.
“We caught fish only for our own consumption all these years. But when a government scheme to distribute fingerlings came in 2022, I decided to raise fish in 0.3 acres of my pond,” Khilla said, as she showed the horse gram produce from her fields.
“People questioned how I would manage it alone but seeing my family’s needs and my husband’s terrible working condition in another state, I was determined to make it happen,” Khilla told The Migration Story
Nilima Khilla showing horsegram that she harvested from the bund area of her fish pond in Baliguda village in Koraput district. Abhijit Mohanty/The Migration Story
Erratic rainfall has rendered Koraput, like many other districts of Odisha, drought prone, which has fuelled migration of mainly men to other Indian states. Over the years, the state has introduced livelihood packages, and also climate resilient crops to cushion the impact of fickle weather on agricultural yields, to empower local communities and arrest distress migration.
However, the decision of migrant workers to return rests on the income that these initiatives generate.
Khilla, like nearly 5000 more farmers, showed that fish farming had potential.
Last June, Khilla’s fish yield jumped to 280 kgs - from 180 kg the previous year - and the Khillas earned Rs 45,000.
Rama now works alongside Nilima in agriculture and fish farming and her experience has inspired many women to take up fish farming in her village, said Daitari Majhi, the sarpanch of the Golur Panchayat that Baliguda comes under.
The combined business of agriculture, chicken farming and fisheries is bringing in a decent income for the couple now.
“Besides, there is enough nutritious food for the