Gangmei: The tale of a successful fish farmer in Nungba
Source: Hueiyen News Service / Maisnam Karnajit

Nungba, August 26 2012: In a bid to lessen the problem of scarcity of fish in Tamenglong district, Thunankhulung Gangmei of Rongdai Village under Nungba sub-division, has crossed all the hurdles so that his village brethren can relish fish curries of their choice.

Speaking to Hueiyen Lanpao, Thunankhulung Gangmei, a father of seven kids, said that fish farming in a hilly area like Tamenglong district's Rongdai Village is a tough challenge.

Apart from the difficulty in finding roes/fingerlings to start fish farming, there is not a single fish market in and around the village.

However, considering scarcity of fish in the region, Gangmei went ahead digging four ponds spreading over an area of one acre to start fish farming.

At that time, many of his colleagues even laughed at him over the idea of fish farming in such a remote hill area.

Not disheartened by such criticisms, after the ponds were ready, Gangmei set out on a mission to roes and came down all the way to Imphal.

He roamed around every part of the city until he met a person called Kh Angou of Mayang Imphal four years ago.

Gangmei recalled that when he conveyed his desires to Angou, the latter ensure him to participate in a three-month long training programme on fish farming free of cost first before providing the required fingerlings.

On successful completion of the training programme, Gangmei returned home with the fingerlings and started rearing Pengba, Grass Carp, Rohu, Catla, etc since 2008.Today, Gangmei is a successful fish farmer earning around Rs 20,000 easily every year from selling fishes at Nungba Bazaar, much to the envy of his colleagues who had laughed at him at one time.

With the earning from fish farming, Gangmei has also been able to open a grocery shop attached to his house to supplement the income of the family.

As the demand for fish in his area is increasing day by day, Gangmei has already made plan to expand his fish farms for increasing the production so that he can participate in the Annual Fish Mela cum competition organized by Fishery Department of the Manipur Government this year.

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