Shrimp Health Management Extension Manual - Library - Network of ...

7. FARMER ORGANIZATIONIt is very important for farmers to discuss the farming situation of the village at regular intervals tomaintain a close vigil on the disease outbreaks in the surrounding areas. Presently, such meetingstake place in an unorganized manner. Organizing farmers under a village level farmer club/association/society would lead to many benefits, such as common stocking dates and seed sourcesto minimize seed selection and transport cost. Similarly, they can purchase feed, lime, fertilizersand other commonly used crop inputs under the group (as maintained by paddy farmers). Thisminimizes the cost of inputs and assures farmers on the quality of the product. The farmers' clubscan also procure basic instruments for soil and water quality parameter analysis (like pH meter, DOmeter, kits for ammonia, alkalinity, etc.) and even some simple health management kits. Duringharvesting time, farmers' groups can negotiate with buyers, bargain reasonably good prices forshrimps and also get a premium price for high quality, chemical residue free shrimp which gives anadded advantage to the farmer in marketing its product. Thus, the farmer groups can play a veryimportant role in managing the source water quality and the local environment.Farmer group in Mogalthur village, West Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh27