author(s)
Anupa Biswas, Pulak Priti Patra, Sourabh Kumar Dubey and Malancha Roy

abstract
Historically Purulia district of West Bengal state in India is a water-poor landscape. In the present study, prevailing aquaculture practices in some drought-prone areas of Purulia district had been evaluated based on a multi-layered cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey. The findings of the study revealed that the majority of fish farmers belong to a low-income group (80.5%) and this is a male-dominated occupation (98.3%). Most of the aquaculture farmers have basic literacy (50.5%) and possess medium size family (60.82%). Majority farmers (44.2%) practice small-scale aquaculture having pond size less than 1 ha with single ownership mode. Farmers are practicing traditional extensive type farming (81.23%) and polyculture is prevalent. Aquaculture activity in Purulia district are dominated by Indian Major Carps (IMCs) in combination with other exotic varieties. Among the fish farmers of Purulia district, 75.32% do not use any kind of supplementary feed and perform multiple-stocking multiple-harvesting. Due to the non-adoption of scientific management practices, aquaculture productivity is very poor and the market chain is also not well equipped. Among the various problems, scarcity of water (78%), disease outbreaks (25%), poor quality of fish seeds (53%), lack of extension services and technical knowledge (65%), social issues like theft (39%) etc. are major issues. To cope up with these challenges, formulation of a local adaptation plan as well as strong technical, financial and extension services from government or non-government organizations and research institutions are required for sustainable development of aquaculture in Purulia district.