economy

Fish farming in paddies is now drawing increasing public interest in the DPRK.

It is because it is not only a fish farming method with great effect in solving the people’s dietary life but also is fit for domestic reality.

Since paddy fields account for a large proportion in the cultivated areas of the country, the introduction of fish farming in paddies makes rural communities grow fishes on a large scale so as to mass-produce fresh fishes with good taste.

As fish farming in paddies has an advantage to produce fishes with less cost as compared to industrialized fish farms, there is no need to build fish-breeding grounds separately. And as it can use natural feeds growing itself in paddies, it is possible to breed fishes with less feed.

The economic effectiveness of fish farming is not confined to the production of fishes.

Fishes inhabiting paddies protect rice plants from the damage of blights and stimulate them while moving continuously to root deep in the soil. Especially, fish excrements are good organic fertilizers for the growth of rice.

Fish farming in paddies brings considerable economic profits as it helps increase the production of fishes with less manpower and reap a good harvest in rice farming.

According to survey results, when breeding fishes in paddies with rice plants, the rice yield gets higher and its quality better than that when only rice is cultivated.

Manageress of the Wonhwa Farm in Phyongwon County, South Phyongan Province, explained the advantages of fish farming in paddies in different aspects, saying “There grow not only water fleas and earthworm but also insects harmful to paddy rice in paddies, which are a good source of feed for fishes. So, fishes can be bred without employing labour and it is environment-friendly as it does not use agrochemicals. And it helps save manpower for weeding. Fishes eat the sprouts of weeds well and we don’t need to weed the paddy fields with about 3 000 fishes in a hectare. Fish excrement is a quality organic fertilizer to improve the fertility of soil.”

According to her, in order to breed fishes well in paddies, it is important to choose suitable varieties of fishes and discharge fries in proper numbers for the area so that they would not have negative effects on their growth or drop actual survival rate. It is necessary to make ways for fishes and take various protection measures like installing scarecrow, thus protecting them from natural enemies. 

And it is also important to select paddies with rich water source and whose water would not overflow even if it rains heavily, plant rice varieties which are so strong that they do not fall and highly resistant to blights and irrigate and apply fertilizers in a rational way.