Basic Knowledge in Agriculture #22

Hi friends, I welcome you all to my blog. As we all know, agriculture in every aspect is the bedrock of the society. That is to say, without agriculture, there would be no production due to lack of raw materials and there would be no food as well.

Recently, I've really thought of so many things to lay my hands on, especially in the area of agriculture. Many thoughts came in but what seemed like a good idea settled in and so, I began to make enquiries from people, especially those of my colleagues who have a good idea about agriculture.

link

And you'll ask what the idea I got was. It's actually fish farming. That has been on my mind since, but I have been considering the environment since it was going to be just starting. That I may not be able to afford to rent a farm for that. But then, I considered starting somewhere.

Luckily for me, today, as we were sharing ideas on ways to make extra money apart from the peanuts we received as salary. So, I got to know that one of my colleagues studied fishery. She told me she was rearing some in the little space where she is living. I was relieved because I'd met someone who'd guide me in the business. And so we got talking, and she gave me some ideas/advice concerning fish farming.

So as we got talking, she mentioned some of the risks and how to avoid them.

• Pond size/conducive environment: she said the size of the pond, if not large, can affect the growth and size of the fish. In that sense, she suggested that using a big pond would be better than a small one, because if fishes are many fish and the pond is small, the fishes may not grow much due to the fact that the fishes don't have a conducive environment to grow as they should.

In essence, anyone who is planning to venture into fish farming must prepare a bigger pond, no matter how little or small the number of fishes. It's not too bad starting small though.

• Water quality: she said having a clean source of water close to the fish pond was a necessity. That's because, according to her, one needs to change the water every two days. The quality of water can affect the fishes positively or negatively.

• Avoid excessive feeding: Excessive food when the fishes cannot feed on them remains in the pond, ferments and decomposes in the water there by affecting the water quality and, when the water is not changed frequently, as mentioned above, it may cause fishes to contact diseases from the water.

• Sorting out the fishes: Because some fishes grow faster than others, just like animals do, it is important that, as a farmer, you sort out the bigger fishes from the smaller ones to prevent the bigger ones from feeding on the smaller ones. If this happens, it may lead to a loss, because rearing 100 fishes and ending up with 50 or 60 fishes may amount to a loss.

link

• Protection of the fishes from predators: According to her, birds, lizards or other elements may want to feed on the fishes if they notice them and when there's nothing to prevent them from accessing the pond.

• According to her, it's easier to sell off as big restaurants, hotels and individuals can easily patronise you.

• You may start up possibly in your house before extending to a farm.

• If maintained carefully, profit is assured