DOT Desk
Commercial cultivation of local variety delicious fish patari sees success in Danpota area of Fakirhat upazila adjacent to the Passur river in the district, thanks to the initiative of five farmers, reports Daily Star.
Two years ago, they started the cultivation under a cooperative for cultivation of the delicious fish, also called vetki, on 17 bighas of land adjacent to the river.
“We have set traps with bamboo and cloths in the fish enclosure where different kinds of fishes like patari including its larvae and fry enter during the full moon and the new moon, especially in the Bangla months of Baishakh and Jaistha,” said Manirul Islam, technician of Patari cultivation of the farm. “Using nets, we sort the patari larvae and fry into small, medium and big ones. Patrai is a voracious eater, which even eats its small larvae and fry. And so, we separate small ones and transfer it to another pond for growing,” he said. “Patari mainly eats live fishes like puti, tilapia and different kinds of shrimp. We supply the feed from natural sources,” he added. “After one year of starting the cultivation, the patari grew over one kg each and we sold it for Tk 500 Tk 600 per kg. ”
As we get most of the feed and larvae from the natural sources, we get much profit from this cultivation. We have sold one tonne of patari this year,” said Asaduzzaman, one of the five farmers.