In the Rajarhat of Kurigram, backyard fishing has responded throughout the upazila.

 Saifur Rahman Shamim, Kurigram

 A madrasa teacher has responded by cultivating fish using biofloc technology in the inner and outer courtyards of his residence in Rajarhat of Kurigram.  After getting interested through YouTube, he first started fishing in the inner yard as a hobby.  As a result of this, 60,000 koi fish and local tengra fish have been released in two reservoirs including the outer courtyard.  And after a few days, he will be able to earn several lakhs by picking fish.  Every day the crowd is increasing in his house to see this exceptional work.

 Deceased: Abdul Momin (42), son of Manchur Ali, is a madrasa teacher by profession.  He is working as an assistant teacher in the nearby Sarishabari Hat Dakhil Madrasa.  Along with teaching, he was doing fish farming with various ponds or bill leases.  Last time he lost 40,000 hybrid fish in the pond.  After that, he became interested by watching small-scale biofloc fish farming activities on YouTube.  As he did not have enough space, he created a reservoir by digging holes in the inner and outer courtyards of the house.  Both are 4 feet deep.  The length of the inner courtyard reservoir is 23 feet and 18 feet.  The length of the outer courtyard reservoir is 41 feet and 24 feet.  On August 19 of this year, he released 57,000 carp and 3,000 native tengra fish fry in two reservoirs.  His wife and son are helping in this work.  He will start selling fish on December 19.  His total expenditure including construction of reservoir, purchase of materials including oxygen machine, food, medicine and electricity has been 2 lakh 8 thousand 500 taka.  He can sell this fish for 5 to 6 lakh rupees in the current market.  In 4 and a half months, his income will be around 3 to 4 lakh taka.

 Abdul Momin’s wife Shahzadi Begum said that although the villagers and his brothers discouraged this work, I was happy with my husband’s work.  We are three people including my son.  We live with what we have.  It is good if the husband makes an exception.  When Swami goes to madrasa, I take care of feeding, oxygen line for the rest of the time.

 Rajarhat Technical College teacher Madhusudan Roy said, I heard the news and came to see it myself.  I have heard that people farm fish in ponds and fish farms.  But this is the first time I saw fish farming in the courtyard of the house.  I am very happy to see.  In this way, if the unemployed youth take up fishing in a small area, they will benefit.

 Abdul Momin, the entrepreneur, said that he took the delivery of all the materials from Dhaka after watching them on YouTube as a hobby.  I bought an oxygen machine for 50 thousand rupees.  I collected fish fry for about 60 thousand taka.  Also, about 3 lakh rupees has been spent on the construction of two reservoirs.  I had some money, also borrowed Rs 3 lakhs from various companies.  In the initial stage the mule is more but the profit is more than double.

 Regarding the matter, District Fisheries Officer Kalipad Roy said, Biofloc method is a new technology.  In this small scale, 30% less cost of fish farming is profitable.  If anyone is interested, the district fisheries department will provide all kinds of technical support to them, said the official.