Under UPNRM, Kalong-Kapili, an NGO registered under the Societies Registration Act, is an Assam based entity that today carries out its operations in five districts of the State. Since its establishment in 2007, it has been engaged in pisciculture, agriculture and allied activities. One of its primary activities is Natural Resource Management in some of the most under developed and remote areas in Karbi Anglong, Kamrup, Nagaon, Morigaon and Hojai districts.

Under NABARD’s Umbrella Programme for Natural Resource Management (UPNRM), Kalong-Kapili has successfully implemented ‘Replacement of Bottom Dweller Fish by Freshwater Prawn.’ From the year 2014 till November 2018 more than 1,00,000 families have started this economically and environmentally sustainable activity.

Since the beginning of the programme, feasibility studies confirmed that it will have a long term impact on the economic, social and environmental fronts. The ponds were created in areas which many regarded as ‘wastelands,’ areas which were not being used for any productive purpose. The development of the ponds ensured one primary objective. The villagers had at their disposal a source of water that was available round the year.

In environmental terms it had deeper implications. The ground water was getting recharged due to the creation of large ponds. There is evidence of water levels in wells rising after the ponds were developed. The other advantage that the project brought in was that stakeholders became environmentally aware and responsible. Once Kalong-Kapili introduced this model of development, the dependence of villagers on local resource use came down. In many a village, people who were reliant on extracting fuel wood from forests stopped doing so, because they had a livelihood that was less arduous and economically more attractive.

On the basis of Kalong-Kapili’s experience, it can be said that this project is ecologically benign, and has minimal carbon footprint. People engaged in the cultivation of freshwater prawn follow a definite protocol. No chemicals are added to the waterbody, the entire process from start to finish is organic. There is no environmental damage while the economic process is being carried out. On a positive note, the introduction of prawns have ensured that siltation in the ponds have stopped, which was earlier caused by carps which were replaced.

All the ponds which have been developed for prawn cultivation have also enabled the owners to adopt plantations around the banks. All the bordering areas now have some form of cultivation, predominantly banana. This practice has resulted in protection of soil cover by preventing surface run off that occurs in areas without green cover. This project, after due exposure in the regional media, has been accepted as a replicable model in parts of Assam apart from the districts where Kalong-Kaplili is functioning. Media persons have said that Kalong-Kapili has been successful in diffusion of knowledge at the grassroots. People who had doubts about freshwater prawn now have a model to observe and accept that is tangible.

In a way, that was not foreseen, the project – Replacement of Bottom Dweller Fish by Freshwater Prawn – has created awareness at places where literacy and education levels have been low. People in the districts where it has been successfully implemented have shared their stories with their close ones, as a result of which this economically and environmentally sound model has been replicated in many parts of Assam. In an unexpected move, recent surveys have shown that due to this project, a large number of people have resisted migrating to nearby towns. An anthropologist has stated that it should be recognised as Kalong-Kapili’s achievement.

Since the time the initial project was launched, we have witnessed that this endeavour has enabled economic sustenance of several thousand people in the Brahmaputra valley, even in areas where Kalong-Kapili doesn’t have a presence. Today, and in the years to come, it will remain a sustainable economic activity for a large section of people with little or no other livelihood opportunity.