The most advanced fish farming technology, Biofloc (BFT) has created opinions and lots of discussions among the fish farmers and entrepreneurs across the country. You would probably recall one of my articles on The Daily Star, titled ‘Modern fish farming technologies shaping the cultivation,’ published on July 25, 2019. And a recent one, ‘Yard turns into modern fish farm,’ published on October 3, 2019 on the same reputed daily. You have also seen documentaries on this topic on Hridoye Mati O Manush. Besides, millions of people have watched the episodes on social media, particularly on YouTube and Facebook. It gave me a tremendous boost to work and create awareness on BFT. Everyone was so concerned about the production. A few days back, I went back again to visit Zahirul Haque and Mustafizur Rahman’s yard fish farm at Ballavdi village in Narayanganj’s Araihazar upazila. You have already seen and read about these two innovative young entrepreneurs. After hard work on BFT, they were ready to yield the best out of this low-cost fish farming technology.

Generally, I go out filming early in the morning and the journey towards Ballavdi started at 3:00am. By 4:00am I reached the village. They had spread the fingerlings in their water tanks back in September, when I last came here and now it was time to harvest. This is the first-ever harvest from Biofloc fish farm. Many people have come to visit Zahirul and Mustafizur’s Biofloc fish farm. They were also eager to see what’s inside those tanks, set on the yard. Everyone wants to see the result of their hard work and what BFT has to offer for the future fish farming. Some other entrepreneurs were present there to see how the two young men have done. The day was the ultimate one where people would witness the truth behind the Biofloc magic.

For the kind reminder of the readers, Zahirul and Mustafizur have 12 water tanks on their yard and expect four harvests a year. They were ready to harvest from one tank. Each tank has 17,500 litres of water and different reservoirs have different varieties of fish. The tank that was ready to be harvested was of mixed variety of fishes. Although, there were more telapias, but, they also had koi, kalibaush, pangash, rui and other varieties. They started clearing water from the tank. The water released to a nearby pond as there was still fish feed inside the tank. Mustafizur and Zahirul were saying they expect to harvest at least 700 kilogram to 750 kilogram of fish from one tank. This seems really surprising to hear as it’s a very new experience for the fish farming sector in Bangladesh. It seemed to me that this little reservoir is not just a money bank, rather it’s a gold mine.

As I have said earlier, so many people have come here to witness this epic moment. They were having great fun around the water tanks. I have never seen this before. People love catching fish from rivers and ponds but watching people catch fish from a water tank on a yard really amazed me. This was a lifetime experience for me. Banker, students and service holders -- so many people from all walks of life were there. They were all waiting to see the result. A local fish trader named Abul Kashem was there too to buy fish from these entrepreneurs. Kashem told me the size and colour of the fish here are totally different and attractive. He fixed a rate of Tk 110 for each kilogram with the entrepreneurs. 

The fishes were visible in the water tank as the sun was rising from the eastern sky. In the mild wintry weather I could see lots of fishes in the tank. Mustafizur and Zahirul started netting fish from the tank. It was really wonderful to observe. A silent revolution was taking place at the village. They were using plastic crates to weigh 10 kilogram fish each time. People were really eager to see the final amount of fish harvested from the tank.

It was a day for both Zahirul and Mustafizur and something they really waited for the past couple of months. It was a day of great contentment. The fishes were weighed and then sent to the wholesale truck. Finally from one tank these two entrepreneurs could harvest 600 kilogram of mixed variety fishes. In four months, the production isn’t as expected, said the entrepreneurs. They also explained about why they couldn’t get their expected production. As they didn’t go for hybrid telapia, that’s why they didn’t get larger sizes. But the two young entrepreneurs were happy at the end of the harvest.           

Let me brief you again about the cost and profit scenario according to Mustafizur and Zahirul. Each tank costs a maximum of Tk 45,000 (USD 531.386). There is aerator, generator and a blower. In total, the cost of construction is around Tk 4.5 lakh (USD 5313.42) and some more for feed and fingerlings for the 12 tanks. Each tank will serve for five years with 20 harvests, four harvests a year. They sold fishes worth Tk 67,100 (from a single tank and one harvest) and earned profit of Tk 22,100.

Dear readers, according to the Department of Fisheries, per hectare fish production from ponds is 4,851 kilogram, which means around 20 kilogram per decimal. Here, they got 600 kilogram from half decimal which clearly shows the immense growth and harvest rate of Biofloc. The entrepreneurs say this is 30 percent higher than the usual production from ponds, using traditional fish farming technology. Technology is itself a magic. When a new technology comes, it shows great aspects. But, it’s necessary to fetch the real opportunities of that very technology. BFT hasn’t only shown great hope in fish farming, it also indicates that we could secure the top position in fish export using BFT. What we need now is, BFT should be run through proper scientific and technological application. And when it’s a matter of scientific application, we need to be patient, industrious, and our fish farmers should get the proper training. These key requirements must be met to achieve great success through BFT, otherwise, things will be ruined. We must concentrate on these new technologies and explore more to achieve something even bigger in the fish farming sector. Moreover, the government should analyse and monitor the quality of the protein and keep an eye on the pros and cons of the Biofloc produced fishes. For this, our farmers need proper guidance, research and awareness from the government, researchers and media.