Pu No Hre – a 50-year-old fish farmer – lives in Cinkhua Village in Chin State in the uplands of Myanmar. Pu No Hre was the first in his family to take up fish farming. Knowing little about aquaculture he could not depend on his fish ponds alone to earn a living, and continued shifting cultivation agriculture;
“I have had a small fishpond since 1997, but I did not know how to breed fish, and the result was not good,” Pu No Hre said.
MIID has helped Pu No Hre renovate his fish pond and have been conducting Fish Farmer Field Schools in Cinkhua and neighboring villages to teach farmers new improved techniques and good aquaculture practices;
“The project not only provides me supplies for fingerling production. I have been receiving a lot of practical knowledge such as releasing fingerling and hatchery, feeding, and so on,” tells Pu No Hre; “Now I can manage my own fish pond!”
The project in Cinkhua will help kickstart fingerling production, so fish farmers in the project villages do not have to make the long journey to Hakha.
“I learned better techniques, which can increase the numbers of fingerlings and therefore help farmers in both Cinkhua and our neighboring villages to buy at a low price. Hopefully one day, I can sell the fish from my pond to the market in Hakha,” Pu No Hre says.