NELLORE: Two government-established aqua labs in the Nellore district, intended to assist aqua farmers with essential water, soil, feed, and disease testing, are underutilised due to widespread lack of awareness.
Despite being set up to reduce farmers’ reliance on expensive private labs, many continue to use private services, resulting in financial losses and substandard reports.
The district is home to over 60,000 acres dedicated to prawn and fish farming spread across nine coastal mandals. In an effort to support these farmers, the government established two aqua laboratories — one at the District Fisheries office and the other in Kavali. The district office lab, set up in 1997 with a Rs 30 lakh investment, functioned well initially but stopped operations due to departmental negligence. It was only revived in 2023. The Kavali lab, established in 2020 with Rs 27 lakh, remains underutilised.
“There are over 16 private aqua labs in the district, and we have no choice but to rely on them,” said K Raju, a farmer from Kovur. He expressed frustration over the lack of communication from officials regarding the existence of the government labs, forcing farmers to pay exorbitant fees.
From 2020 to the present, the Nellore lab has conducted only 12,926 tests, while the Kavali lab has conducted just 155 tests. Farmers allege that the Fisheries Department has failed to inform them about these facilities, leading to their continued dependence on costly private labs. An official from the Fisheries Department assured that plans are underway to increase outreach, including direct visits by officials to collect samples from farmers. “We will take special initiatives to improve service delivery,” said the official.