Ghulam Mohiuddin Bhatt, a retired policeman from Kashmir, got success by starting trout fish at the age of 60.
Today Ghulam Mohiuddin Bhatt is a well-known farmer of his area
There is a popular saying in English – ‘Age Is Just A Number’..! And Ghulam Mohiuddin Bhatt of Kashmir has proved it at the age of 60. When he retired after 35 years of service in the Jammu and Kashmir Police, this assistant sub-inspector stepped forward to fulfill his dream, which he had seen many years ago during his posting in Achhabal and Kokernag. This was to build my own trout fish farm.
What is Trout Fish?
Trout is one such fish of cold and fresh water, which is counted among the expensive and delicious breed of fish in India. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was fond of eating this fish, was also the former Prime Minister of India, who during his stay in Manali in Himachal Pradesh used to eat trout fish grown in the cold waters of Vyas.
There is a popular saying in English – ‘Age Is Just A Number’..! And Ghulam Mohiuddin Bhatt of Kashmir has proved it at the age of 60. When he retired after 35 years of service in the Jammu and Kashmir Police, this assistant sub-inspector stepped forward to fulfill his dream, which he had seen many years ago during his posting in Achhabal and Kokernag. This was to build my own trout fish farm.
What is Trout Fish?
Trout is one such fish of cold and fresh water, which is counted among the expensive and delicious breed of fish in India. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was fond of eating this fish, was also the former Prime Minister of India, who during his stay in Manali in Himachal Pradesh used to eat trout fish grown in the cold waters of Vyas.
Use of natural water source
Ghulam Mohiuddin Bhatt was already interested in setting up a trout fish farm. After hanging the khaki uniform, he took part in the three-day training given by the fisheries department of Kashmir to the new fishermen. He had already chosen the place where to open the farm. Trout fish need constant running water. In Malikpora of Pulwama, a piece of 18 marla (1 marla is about 25 meters) was chosen which also has a natural source of fresh water at a distance. He built a cement drain to bring the water coming out of the underground spring to the nearest part of the field. Keeping in mind the available quantity of water, he got two medium-sized pucca ponds built.
Good price for trout fish
Trout fish have a great need for oxygen, which is made possible by constant movement or drift in the water. Ghulam Mohiuddin Bhatt says, “The fish starts to scurry only 10 minutes after the water stops flowing and is able to survive for a maximum of 15 minutes.” This means that the biggest challenge in raising trout is the availability of running water. Whether it is natural or it should be ensured with the help of electric or diesel powered generator sets and pumps. Lightning is a common sight in the part of Kashmir where Ghulam Mohiuddin Bhatt lives. However, the overall point is that creating an artificial flow of water and filtering the water greatly increases the cost. Then where the government decides the maximum price of the product itself, the fisherman cannot increase the price according to the increase in the cost. Ghulam Mohiuddin Bhatt tells that the fixed price of trout fish in his area is Rs 500 per kg.
While talks were going on with Ghulam Mohiuddin Bhatt, a young man reached his farm to buy fish from him. There was no bargaining. In front of us, they took out two fish from the fresh water and weighed them, their weight turned out to be one kilo. At the behest of the customer, Ghulam Mohiuddin cut the fish and cleaned it and gave it to him. Ghulam Mohiuddin says that usually the customer buys whole fish, but if a customer asks, we also cut it.
Low cost and subsidy
Fisherman Ghulam Mohiuddin Bhatt brings fish seeds from a trout hatchery established at Kokernag in Anantnag district of South Kashmir. There, the 1984 Trout Farming Project is being run with the help of the European Union. This is the reason that in the last two decades, there has been a lot of growth in the fish business in Jammu and Kashmir. Trout fish farming has been given a lot of promotion by the government and there are many schemes for this.
Ghulam Mohiuddin Bhatt tells that three years ago he started fish farming at a cost of only 2 lakh rupees. The land was his own. Out of the 2 lakh rupees that were spent in setting up the whole system and bringing fish seed, they got back Rs.1 lakh 20 thousand from the government as subsidy. The grain that is put to eat for the fish is dried, ground and first made into powder and then they are converted into small tablets. This is the grain of fish and Ghulam Mohiuddin Bhatt also informed that even in buying this grain, 50 percent subsidy is available from the government.
Income from fish farming
Ghulam Mohiuddin Bhatt earns 3 to 4 lakh rupees in a year from the work of fish farming and sales. Till 5 years ago, paddy was grown in his ancestral farm till now. Now there are foreign varieties of Italy apple trees. Bhatt, a farmer passionate about increasing his income and adopting modernity, says that he is helped by his wife in his work and also takes the help of an employee. They have a son, who looks after a private business. Therefore, from farming to fish farming, he sees everything himself. They say that there is good profit in this business and there is a demand for trout fish abroad also. Trout fish exporters to Dubai send 1500 rupees per kg. Their income comes from fish farming for 12 months of the year. Even in the months of December-January with a lot of snowfall, the process of earning continues.
Ghulam Mohiuddin Bhatt says that the colder it is, the better it is for the trout and because these fish grow in the spring water, they are safe. The water of the spring is hot. In these days people also eat more fish here, so there is profit too.
Always passionate about innovating
Ghulam Mohiuddin Bhatt, who entered the field of apple plantation from paddy cultivation and then fish farming, is always ready to do something new. Encouraged by the success achieved in fish farming, Bhatt is now about to move towards poultry farming. Ghulam Mohiuddin is working on a plan to start a chicken farm on a small piece of vacant land near the fish farm in Malikpora. His idea is to raise Kadaknath, a variety of chicken. They say that chicken meat of Kadaknath breed is more expensive than goat meat, which sells up to Rs 700 per kg. Not only this, one egg of this breed of chicken is sold for 50 rupees. This egg is also black in colour.
Where does the idea to innovate come from? When asked this question, this progressive farmer’s answer was that he is interested to be aware of what is happening in the world. They regularly watch news on TV and read newspapers. The way to get a police job was also shown to him by the Urdu newspaper Aftab. On the morning of January 1984, SP reached the office where the recruitment was going on after reading the advertisement for the recruitment of constables in Jammu and Kashmir Police published in ‘Aftab’. Before joining the police, Ghulam Mohiuddin used to make furniture for someone. In fact, after passing tenth class, he left school and did a carpentry course from ITI. However, this did not support the family and they were also married at the age of 22. After 2 years of marriage, he was recruited as a soldier and got his first salary of Rs 533. Being the eldest son in the family, his responsibility was also more, so the main motive behind joining police was to improve the financial situation and then it happened.
Ghulam Mohiuddin says that he regularly participates in training programs to learn something new in this work as well. They are told about modern and research based methods or recipes for better fish rearing. This helps them a lot.
Motivation for unemployed youth
During his police job, he spent most of his time in different places in the militancy-affected Jammu and Kashmir. During this, he narrowly escaped a terrorist attack in Sopore, when terrorists fired indiscriminately with AK-47 rifles at the police bus in which he was accompanied by about two dozen policemen. He was never distracted by this attack or by other such incidents. His passion today gives him the strength and confidence to experiment. In this era of unemployment in Jammu and Kashmir, farmer Ghulam Mohiuddin is a great source of inspiration for the youth wandering for jobs.
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