Pearl-spot farmer Baburaj of Kadalundi has won inland aqua farmers’ award

When the prawns he reared died of viral infection and he had to switch to Karimeen (pearl spot) farming nine years ago, A. Baburaj of Kadalundi never imagined that this delicate fish would turn his life around.

Receiving the Deen Dayal Upadhyay award for inland aqua farmers from Union Minister for Agriculture Radha Mohan Singh here on Sunday, Mr. Baburaj thanked the Kadalundi river and the Karimeen for saving him from the verge of bankruptcy and for earning him the laurels.

Baburaj stays at Cheriyathuruthi, a small island almost at the mouth of the Kadalundi river, that houses 14 families. He hatches Karimeen fingerlings in a huge pond at the centre of the island and supplies them to the nurseries across the State. In fact, his is the only Karimeen seed farm in the region.

“Karimeen is easy to rear, not like Chemmeen (prawns) that needs constant attention and care,” Baburaj told The Hindu . In fact, he says the island provides the best possible condition for Karimeen farming with constant flow of water from the river to the pond, saving him the effort of artificially managing the oxygen-level in the pond.

The adult fish are fed rice and pellets/cattle feed. The pond is divided into two segments with sand-made bunds and pipelines beneath to facilitate flow of water between the segments. Thus the water level in the pond is maintained at one metre or above depending on the level in the river. The hatching usually takes place during June-July or November-December.

Baburaj is in a jubilant mood explaining how he obtained the award. “I applied for the award through a breeding centre in Chennai. I provided all the documents needed to give credibility to the claim,” he said.

He was accompanied by a team of 25 people, including family and friends, to the Indian Institute of Spices Research at Chelavoor in Kozhikode to receive the award.