A dry pond at the fisheries department in Doranda. Picture by Ashok Karan

Ranchi, May 5: A fish seed breeding centre at Doranda faces an acute shortage of staff, which is affecting production.

The farm ? spread over 22 acres ? is somehow functioning with only two employees, and manages to supply fish seeds to hundreds of farmers across the district.

The farm at Doranda is situated next to the fisheries directorate.

The farm not only caters to half the district but it also produces around 1,000 kg of fish every year, which is, in turn, sold to people, said officials in the centre.

In the Indian varieties, the farm produces katla, rohu and mrigel, while in the other varieties it breeds seeds of glasscarp, silvercarp and common carps.

The farm helps in hatching seeds, breeding and rearing them in nursery tanks after which they are sold to farmers at subsidised rates.

The officials added that they produce around 20 lakh seeds every year. If the farm had adequate staff, the production would have been higher.

The farm had stopped functioning during the erstwhile Bihar days, but resumed operations after the formation of Jharkhand.

Fisheries officials pointed out that each and every farm should have at least four workers to man it in which the most important are the fishermen and the supervisor, who actually undertakes the functioning.

Out of the total sanctioned strength of 40 posts in Ranchi district, only 21 are working as of now in various parts of the district.

Conditions are even worse in government farms in Silli, Khunti and Bundu which are also reeling from a severe staff crunch, said the department officials.

Besides, the officials added that the seeds, which are produced in the farm and given to the farmers, are of good quality and that is why there has been a good yield by the farmers over the past few years.

The most important aspect is that the farmers are provided seeds at a subsidised rate.

For per 1,000 seeds, the farmers are charged Rs 100 while it is around Rs 300 if one takes from private seed breeders, said district fisheries officer Ravi Shanker.

?The market rate shoots up when there is a shortage of seeds. For farmers of the scheduled castes and tribes, we even provide a 40 per cent subsidy for fish seeds. But in spite of producing about 20 lakh seeds from this farm and around 60 lakh seeds from all farms in the Ranchi district, we cater to only 50 per cent of the seed requirements of the district. Shortage of staff is a factor which hampers the fish production,? said Shanker.