GEOSPATIAL MAPPING OF FISHERIES PROFILES OF INDO-GANGETIC PLAINS OF INDIA THROUGH GIS

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1 Indian J. Anim. Res., 47 (2) : , 2013 AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATION CENTRE / indianjournals.com GEOSPATIAL MAPPING OF FISHERIES PROFILES OF INDO-GANGETIC PLAINS OF INDIA THROUGH GIS Ram singh, Rama Sharma, P. K. Pandey and C.S. Chaturvedi Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Yari Road, Versova, Mumbai ,India Received: Accepted: ABSTRACT The Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) in India is composed of five states- Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. All these states have abundant inland water resources in the form of lakes, reservoirs, tanks and rivers which, in turn, show great possibility of increasing inland fish production and will favourably affect the food availability of the region and reduce the vulnerability of the resource-poor population. In this paper, an effort has been made to identify inland water resources in Indo-Gangetic Plains through Geospatial Mapping which are suitable for fish culture and thus help policy planners in developing strategies for sustainable utilization of resources of the region. Mapping of fisheries profile of Indo-Gangetic Plains is performed by using intelligence GIS tool having critical geographic dimensions. For this purpose, fisheries data of Indo-Gangetic Plains are accessed and integrated with different north-eastern states at different levels. All the data were brought in tabular form through Microsoft Excel and then joined with digitized map of the Indo-Gangetic Plains. Mapping was done through Arc Info GIS software (9.3.1 version) and further synchronized to generate three thematic maps containing multiple layers. First map reflects average fish production (total, inland and marine), second map depicts fishers population along with their occupation and third map indicates fish business flow directions reflected through fish consumption pattern and demand and supply of fish. Key words: Fish supply and demand, Indo-Gangetic Plains, Intelligent GIS, Thematic map. INTRODUCTION The Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) of India comprises five states- Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal along the Himalayan range across northern India and it can be broadly divided into north-western (NW) and eastern (E) plains. Large geospatial variations exist in the physiographic, climatic, edaphic, inland fisheries water resources and socio-economic production features of the IGP. The NW and the Trans-Gangetic Plains (TGP), comprising Punjab and Haryana forms the Green Revolution heartland but it was neglected in inland fisheries development programmes. It is mainly semi-arid zone with an annual rainfall of mm and it would be water scarce without its irrigation infrastructure. In the TGP, summer and winter temperature are in extremes and agriculture production of wheat is dominated whereas eastern plains suffer from flooding and average rainfall ranges from 1,000-2,000 mm. Since decades, IGP has been mainstay of Indian agriculture economy. It is backbone of public distribution system and forms a strong base for the food security of the country. Large parts of the IGP of India are currently food insecure (Swaminathan, 2002). In the eastern region, this is largely due to the low purchasing power of the vast majority of the subsistence-agriculture population, coupled with the high risk of drought and flood. In contrast, the livelihoods in the western part of IGP are currently largely secured due to assured markets and government support prices but facility of subsidies may not remain indefinitely, and water supplies are being threatened. Regional inequalities are a current source of several social conflicts in the IGP, and the spatial and temporal differences in environmental change may further exacerbate such inequalities. Study conducted by NAAS (2005) revealed that population pressure on the natural resources in the eastern IGP is exceedingly high. Human as well

2 114 INDIAN JOURNAL OF ANIMAL RESEARCH as livestock place heavy burden on the natural resources. Currently, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have almost doubled the population density as compared to Punjab and Haryana which is, in the relative terms, would make the land scarce and labour abundant in the eastern IGP. But all these states have sufficient inland water resources in the form of lakes, reservoirs, tanks and rivers which, in turn, show great possibility of increasing inland fish production and will considerably affect the food availability and reduce the vulnerability of the resource-poor population of the region. This shows the necessity to focus more towards development of aquaculture in eastern IGP for balancing socioeconomic development (Aggarwala et. al., 2004). Current study is carried out with following objectives: (i) To find out growth rate of fish production in Indo- Gangetic Plains of India by using growth rate formula ( ) (ii)to create different thematic layers which comprises fish growth rate, average fish production rate, status of different inland water resources and currently used water resources (iii) To list out Fisher s census and number of people involved in fishing activities viz. full time, part time and others (iv)to create fisheries Business map for IGP representing relationship between surplus fish production and status of fish consumption in different states This will help policy planners in developing strategies for sustainable use of resources of Indo- Gangetic Plains from the perspective of various stakeholders such as farmers, policy makers and their technical advisors, the scientific community, traders and industrialists so that surplus fish from one region can be made available to the people of another having more dependency on fish consumption. MATERIALS AND METHODS Geospatial mapping of IGP of India is performed through GIS technology having critical geographic dimensions. For this purpose, state-wise secondary data were collected from the source Anonymous(2005) during the period and brought in tabular form through Microsoft Excel by allotting a LC number to each state. For the purpose of getting number of households in rural and urban areas of each state of IGP, Census data is utilized from Central Department, Government of India (Anonymous, 2011). This data have been used for GIS-analysis and preparation of different thematic maps for IGP of India over different states. For determination of demand and supply of fish in each state of IGP, total fish demand is obtained (in lakh tones) on the basis of number of households in each state of IGP with consumption of fish (in kg) for each household (Singh et al., 2011). For analysis and preparation of various thematic maps and fish business maps, Arc Info GIS software (9.3.1 version) is used. First of all, digitization of geo-registered India s map was done and each state ID number was allotted a LC number in IGP region. After this, the excel sheet was joined to digitize map of Indo-Gangetic Plains of India (IGP). After joining of the excel sheet, geocoding process was adopted. In geocoding, all the state ID and digitized maps ID were matched to state-wise excel location code. This was further synchronized and integrated to generate three thematic maps by adopting customized layering system in the GIS software searchable on several criteria. (1) Fisheries growth rate, inland water resources and average growth rate Map (2) Fisher s population (3) Fisheries Business map of Indo-Gangetic plain of India RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Map1 represents fish growth rate and average growth rate during as well as inland water resources. First layer of thematic map1 represents fish growth rate in IGP during the period This growth rate has been categorized through GIS tools by using equal break-up method in three categories, viz. (i) Low (-1.43 to 4.15), (ii) Moderate (4.15 to 9.73) and (iii) High (9.73 to 15.33) (Table 1). Lowest growth rate was found in West Bengal (-1.43 %) and Bihar (3.4%). Moderate growth rate was found in Uttar Pradesh (7.29%) and Haryana (4.26%) while highest growth rate was found in Punjab (15.31%). Second layer of thematic map1 represents average growth rate. This reveals that Punjab and Haryana are the highest productive states followed

3 Vol. 47, No. 2, by West Bengal, and Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in the least productive state in IGP. Third layer of thematic map1 represents inland water resources. West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are having maximum inland water resources whereas Haryana and Punjab possess comparatively less inland water resources. This reveals that there is an urgent need to promote scientific aquaculture for utilization of these inland water resources in IGP region for maintaining socio-economic growth at par with other states. TABLE 1: Fish growth rate in IGP during Types Growth Status in IGP Rate (%) Low to 4.15 West Bengal and Bihar Moderate 4.15 to 9.73 Utter Pradesh and Haryana High 9.73 to Punjab In Punjab, 70% of fish production comes from freshwater aquaculture. There are 6,695 village ponds and 3,328 private ponds covering the total area 10,023 ha. Adopting scientific technology on carp polyculture, fish farmers have been benefited. They have started producing over 6000 kg/yr/ha production in the state in spite of receiving severe cold for 2-3 month (Table 2). In Haryana, total fish production from ponds having area 10,000 ha is 46,000 tons and ranks second highest after Punjab with respect to per unit production. In the state, there are 89 drains covering 2,000 km, besides three main canal systems, viz. Western Yamuna canal, Bhakara canal system and lift canal system, covering 2200 km. Modern resource mapping has identified that most of the water bodies in the state occupy area from 0.5 to 50 ha only and majority of them are from Jind, Faridabad, Hisar, Bhiwani, Jhajjar and Kaithal districts only.

4 116 INDIAN JOURNAL OF ANIMAL RESEARCH The river Ganges and its important tributaries - Ghaghra and Gandak form an extensive network among the states of eastern plain. West Bengal, in spite of small coast line of 158 km, has largest impounded brackishwater area of 2.1 lakh ha. Hooghly-Matlah estuary forms unique nursery ground for a large number of brackishwater, marine finfish and shellfishes. In addition to 2,526 km of rivers and canals, there is over 150 beels with an estimated water area of about 42,000 ha (Anonymous, 2006). Bihar is also an equally rich state owing to the extensive network of 7,400 km rivers and canals and 1, 54,000 ha of reservoirs. It is estimated that about 4,735 ha of oxbow lakes are available in Bihar with major congregations in the east and west of Champaran and Muzaffarpur districts. Electronic atlas of the water bodies of Bihar reveals that over 50% (68,467 ha out of 1,30,492 ha) of them fall in ha category, most of these are seasonal. 42% fall i n ha and are perenni al and approximately 15% of them are oxbow lakes (Table 3). While 45% of water bodies are perennial in ha category, approximately 17 of them are oxbow lakes. Most of the water bodies in category ha and above are in Vaishali, Samstipur Water-bodies size (ha) TABLE 2: Water resources and production of eastern and north-western Indo-Gangetic Plains. a) Resources Punjab Haryana Bihar West Bengal U.P. Pond (lakh ha) b) Production Inland fish production 78,730 67,236 1,86,990 12,64, (tones/y) Production rate 6,000 4,500 3,160 4, (kg/ha/y) Seed production (million fry) , Source: Department of Animal Husbandry and Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, New Delhi. and Patna districts and are seasonal low-laying water logged and weed-infested. For aquaculture development, 95,000 ha of pond area in Bihar is primary resource. Freshwater aquaculture contributes to more than 93% of total fish production this state. In all, there are 48,735 ponds per talukas with total area of 34,106 ha and average size being 0.70 ha. The present productivity of fish ponds in different districts varies from 0.19 to 1.86 tones/ha/yr, average being 0.96 tones/ha. The total fish production of Bihar is 34,970 tones/years as against an estimated demand of 86,200 tons/year. Punjab has around 15, 270 km of rivers and canals and latter being in abundance has very little area developed by wetland (Table 4). Natural resources of Haryana comprises two major rivers - Yamuna and Ghaghara,12 small rivers and around 5,000 lake besides 19 reservoirs and bunds with water area of approximately 900 ha. Fisheries population of IGP Map 2 depicts that in eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains, number of fishers are more as compared to western IGP. In eastern IGP, Bihar is the leading state occupying the maximum number of fishers population followed by West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh whereas in western IGP, Haryana is the TABLE 3: Fisheries resources mapped by the remote sensing imagery. Punjab Haryana Bihar West Bengal U. P. No. Area No. Area No. Area No. Area No. Area > Total Source: Department of Animal Husbandry and Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, New Delhi.

5 Vol. 47, No. 2, TABLE 4: Water resources of eastern and north-western Indo-Gangetic Plains. Resources Punjab Haryana Bihar West-Bengal U. P. Rivers and canals (km) Reservoirs (lakh ha) NA NA Flood plain, wetlakes (lakh ha) NA Brakishwater area (lakh ha) Source: Department of Animal Husbandry and Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, New Delhi. leading state in terms of fishers population followed by Punjab. Fish Business map of Indo-Gangetic (IGP) Plains of India Map 3 contains two layers the first layer represents excess fish production in IGP states (in lakh tones) and second layers represents fish consumption (kg.) in IGP states based on urban and rural patterns. Combination of these two layers will be focusing on Fish Business map of IGP. Through this map, information about the excess fish production in a particular state and its supply to nearby state where fish production is less and its demand is more can easily be assessed. Map 3 also reveals that all the five IGP states (Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal) are in a position to supply fish to nearby north-eastern states to fulfill their demand of fish. West Bengal ranks fourth in fish production and here 6.08 lakh tones fish production is in excess per year followed by Bihar from where 2.35 lakh tones fish can be supplied to nearby states. Other IGP states, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, come in the third group in this map having fish surplus in Punjab (0.84 lakh tones), Haryana (0.93 lakh tones) and Uttar Pradesh (0.39 lakh tones). Table 2 also depicts that Uttar Pradesh and Bihar comprise maximum water bodies areas in which

6 118 INDIAN JOURNAL OF ANIMAL RESEARCH Fish Consumption of IGP the former has 1.61 lakh ha and the latter 1.24 Lakh ha area. If fish farmer of these two states (Uttar Pradesh and Bihar) adopt advanced scientific aquaculture practices, then both the states together can produce maximum inland fish production and can supply to neighboring states of the country where fish demand is more as per their high fish consumption rate. Thematic map also includes pie chart representing state-wise number of fish consuming households/1000 households in rural and urban areas. According to the map, fish consumption of IGP, West Bengal is the only one state where fish consumption for urban and rural population is in the same ratio. In Bihar, fish consumption is high in rural areas in comparison to urban areas while Punjab and Haryana show high fish consumption in urban areas. In Uttar Pradesh, fish consumption rate is the least as compared to other IGP states. In West Bengal, fish consumption is 0.86 kg/ person/month in rural areas and 0.59 kg/person/ month in urban areas. Likewise in Bihar, fish consumption is 0.75 kg/person/month in rural areas and 0.16 kg/person/month in urban area. Uttar Pradesh has shown the least fish consumption rate being 0.06 kg/person/month in rural areas and 0.05 kg/person/month in urban areas. In West Bengal and Bihar, fish consumption in rural areas is higher than urban areas whereas in Uttar Pradesh, fish consumption in rural areas (0.06 kg/person/month) is slightly higher in comparison to urban areas (0.05 kg/person/month) and same is the situation in Punjab and Haryana. This concludes that fish consumption rate in western IGP is low as compared to eastern IGP states. Punjab and Haryana lead in inland fish production as their average fish production rate is more than 6000 kg/ha/yr. In recent past, fish farmers in these states have also started pisciculture in addition to agriculture which involves raising fish commercially in tanks or enclosures, usually for food. Fish species raised by fish farmers includes grass carp, silver carp, catfish, tilapia etc. Adopting this techni que has no constraints. In fact, it is economically more beneficial as compared to other occupations (Everson et. al., 1993) and Indian state

7 governments are encouraging them by providing good support as it offers nearly double the returns compared to other popular crop combinations. In rural areas of f Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana, abundant inland water resource exit. If fish farmers can adopt modern scientific techniques to produce more freshwater fish, they can earn more money and be benefitted so that in the western IGP, inter-state fish business can be developed. Eastern IGP states can promote their fish business with northeastern states. Bihar and West Bengal are the leading in eastern IGP states where inland water resources are sufficient with more fishermen population. If these state governments encourage them for inland fish culture, the part-timer fish farmers can become fulltime farmers and their socio-economic level can be upgraded. Vol. 47, No. 2, CONCLUSION Quick view of the three thematic maps (as explained here) directly give state-wise information about fisheries of the Indo-Gangetic Pains of India. For sustainable development of inland fisheries, this study will be of immense use to fish traders, planners, resource managers and project managers for updating their fisheries policy at state level in the IGP region of the country. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors are grateful to Dr. W. S. Lakra, Vice- Chancellor/Director, Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Mumbai for encouraging and providing necessary facilities to complete this work. The authors also express their thanks to Mrs. S.S. Gajbhiye for her technical support in preparation of the maps. REFERENCES Anonymous (2005) Handbook of Fisheries Statistics, Government of India, New Delhi, 2005, P 196. Anonymous (2011) Rural Urban Distribution of Population of India, Census of India, 2011, P NAAS (2005) Organic Farming: Approaches and Possibilities in the Context of Indian Agriculture, Policy Paper 30, New Delhi P Aggarwala PK, Joshi PK, Ingramc JSI and Gupta RK (2004) Adapting food systems of the Indo-Gangetic plains to global environmental change: key information needs to improve policy formulation, J Env Sci Pol Everson R, Quisumbing A and Bantilan MC (1993) Production, technology and rural poverty in the Philippines: rural income implications from a simple CGE impact multiplier model, Perspectives on Philippine Poverty, University of the Philippines Press and Council of Southeast Asia Studies, Yale. University, Queon City, p.211. Singh R, Pandey PK and Sinha A (2011) Geospatial Mapping of Fisheries Profile of West Bengal of India through GIS. J. Agr Sci Tech 8(B), Swaminathan MS (2002) Food Insecurity Atlas of Urban India. Research Foundation and the World Food Programme, P. 212.