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Farmer organization as models for promoting adoption of BMPs and accessingmarketsN. R. UmeshNational Centre for Sustainable Aquaculture, India., MPEDA(Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Govt. of India), Plot No.8, SBI Officers’ Colony,Rajendra Nagar, Kakinada – 533 003, Andhra PradeshAbstractMajority of shrimp farmers in India are small scale farmers. The work on the development of Better ManagementPractices (BMPs) on the country’s shrimp culture sector stemmed from the recognition of the need to strengthenthe sector, particularly the numerous largely unorganized small farmers, so that they could combat disease whichhas been the major cause of on- farm losses. The core technology around which the BMPs were developed washealth management. The key BMPs developed during MPDA-NACA project are disseminated and implementedthrough group approach where the training is imparted for group of farmers. To quote a farmer leader, “until nowwe did not know what to do, how to control the disease and get successful crops. With the plan of organizingfarmers as a society and techniques such as using a crop calendar (where all farmers of the society stock in oneparticular period, with fixed stocking density and with good quality seed) we can definitely succeed as a group.The facilities like water quality labs are provided through societies where farmers can monitor water quality ondaily basis. The work of NaCSA of late getting the attention of sustainability conscious buyers who are showinginterest to buy the chemical free, sustainably produced shrimp from aquaculture societies and sell under premiumbrand. This will further help farmers by getting them assured market price for their produce and avoidingmiddlemen who are exploiting the small farmers at present and it would also insulate small farmers from pricecycles, fluctuating supply/demand, fluctuating exchange rates, overproduction, speculation etc. The successfulmarketing tie up with overseas buyer would also help us spread the “Sustainable Aquaculture Practices” to moreand more farmers and help thousands of small farmers sustain their livelihood.IntroductionAquatic environments are complex ecosystems and understanding and managing the underlying causes ofdisease is often difficult. Disease outbreaks and poor production are usually the end result of a series of linkedevents involving environmental factors, the health condition of the stocks, the presence of an infectious agent andpoor husbandry and management practices. The ability of farmers to deal with these problems depends not onlyon technical factors, but also on socio-economic factors such as access to extension services, technology, betterinputs, information and finances. To understand aquatic animal diseases and reduce the risks of their occurrence,a systems approach should be adopted so that the whole aquatic system, including its ecological processes andsocial, economic and institutional factors, is considered.The key to putting the BMPs into sustained practice was the farmers being associated and motivated. Thus theprocess commenced with the organization of small scale farmers into groups- clusters, grouping farmers in agiven area, drawing on common resources such as a common water supply channel for example, and makingthem realize the benefits of acting collectively rather than individually. Such clusters subsequently becameSocieties with a legal status.118