Page 91 - Changing Living Spaces

Living Spaces of Ethnic Groups and their Relationship with the Ecological Environment

carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix), grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idel-
la), Bafu (Catla catla), Rou (Labeo rohita), Kuhi (Labeo gonius), Bagu (Labeo
bata), Magur (Clarias batrachus), Chital (Notopterus chitala), and others.
During the rainy season, fish are bred in flooded croplands by feeding
mustard pomace and rice husks and adding vitamins. In November, when
the water level of the cultivated areas drops, the fish are caught with nets
and offered for sale in weekly (hat) and permanent markets in the sur-
rounding towns. The cultivation period of boro rice and fish partly over-
laps, which causes problems for farmers because they cannot start cul-
tivating boro rice when the fish in the same cultivation field are already
fully grown. In the cultivated areas, boro rice ploughing is started in
November, and transplanting is done from January to February of the
following year. Boro rice harvesting takes place in May and June, but the
period overlaps with the input of fish fry.
The farmers in the study village have solved this problem by vertical
land use. They dig a portion of the cultivated field about 8 feet deep to
store water during the dry season. Fish fry are released in April before
the rainy season begins. At this time, boro rice is still planted on the other
side of the cropland before harvest (figure 6). During the rainy season, the
groundwater level rises as rainfall accumulates, flooding the entire culti-
vation area and allowing a large area to be used for fish farming. When
the rainy season ends in October and the water level begins to drop, it is
time to harvest the adult fish. The fish harvest lasts until January of the
following year. At this point, the water has only accumulated in the low-
est part dug into the cultivated land, and on the opposite side, where the
water has completely dried, preparations for the next boro rice crop can
begin. In addition, it is also used as a seedbed for boro rice.
This technique of digging up part of the cultivated land to both raise
fish and grow boro rice has several advantages. One is that the topsoil of
the rice field is cultivated and puddled for planting rice seedlings, which
facilitates the supply of inorganic nutrients from the soil into the water
when the water level rises during the rainy season. This becomes a good
nutrient for fish. Faecal matter and weeds mixed in the soil also dissolve
in the water, which is beneficial for fish growth. In addition, when har-
vesting boro rice, only the rice ear is cut off and the lower stalk is left in
the field. The remaining stalks are submerged and rot during the rainy
season, which is also a good fish food.
Many villagers admit that the profitability of fish farming is so high
that rice is grown to increase fish catches. In boro rice cultivation, the cost

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