Diversion of land to aquaculture poses threat to water resources in AP

Visakhapatnam: Social activist and former IAS officer EAS Sarma has sought intervention of authorities to stop diversion of agricultural lands for aquaculture.

In a representation to Trilochan Mohapatra, DG of ICAR and Manoj Ahuja, Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, he said over the last few decades, extensive areas of agriculture have been diverted for aquaculture in several States, especially Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal, leading to a progressive reduction in the area under agriculture, especially paddy.

In addition, the usage of chemicals in aquaculture and unscientific practices have also caused pollution of not only the lands under aquaculture but also both the surface and the groundwater resources, causing deterioration in the quality of water with its associated adverse impacts on agriculture and public health.

He said the area in AP under aquaculture is 2.9 lakh acres and still it is on the increase, year after year. This drains roughly 128 TMC annually. By no stretch of imagination, this is insignificant.

"As I have stated, indiscriminate use of chemicals and unscientific practices in aquaculture, fuelled by corruption at all levels, have damaged the quality of water and adversely affected adjacent agricultural lands extensively. In States like AP, the aquaculture lobby being strong, the State governments are granting several concessions to them, such as subsidised electricity tariffs," the former bureaucrat pointed out.

Sarma said there is a need to take a long-term view of this distressing trend and make sure that the area under paddy, which is the lifeline for food security, does not reduce any further.