‘Har Ghar, machli ghar’ initiative to empower the rural women

1st March 2024, Dhankutti, Barabanki

ICAR-National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, Lucknow, organised an ornamental fish Pathshala to provide entrepreneurial skills to rural women in Dhankutti, Barabanki district, under the SCSP project Mission NavShakti. The hub and spoke model involved teaching aquarium fabrication, assembly, and maintenance, as well as rearing aquarium fishes in rural homes. Women dug small backyard ponds, created cement ponds, and used unused cattle water troughs for rearing and growing fish for market supply. Fifty ponds are being dug by various SHGs in Barabanki district to rear molly and guppy livebearers.

Dr. U.K Sarkar, Director, ICAR-NBFGR, and Dr. Poonam Jayant Singh, ARS and Nodal officer, SCSP, were present during the programme.

The SCSP project aims to empower rural women in the SC community by providing livebearer fish to rear in their backyard ponds. The fish can be sold to distributors through a public-private partnership, and established women can start their shops and sell fish directly online. The project also connects rural women with urban needs in the ornamental fish sector and changes village dynamics by training rural women and creating trained manpower in four villages, where women often work in fields without an alternative income source.

(Source: ICAR-National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, Lucknow)