Fisherwomen of riverside villages of Bari, Dasarathapur, Nalipur and Balichandpur etc, who hitherto dried up fish under open sun, are now doing it in a more hygienic and scientific way.
The district fishery office and District Rural Development Agency have introduced solar panels, which have now changed the fish drying method and brought great benefit to the people dependent on preparation and sale of dry fish.
For the women of these villages, drying up of fish was not an art, as they dried up the unsold fish, particularly smaller varieties, on the sandy river embankments.
As a result, the products contained lots of sand particles. During rainy season, they faced more problems, as maggots start developing in the half-dried fish. Above all, they could not get the right price for their products owing to the presence of the sand in the fish.
“So far, unsold fresh fish used to be dried under sun in open courtyard in front of the fishermen huts and were sold in the market. However, with the installation of the solar unit a hygienically manufactured dry fish could be offered to the consumers,” said the district fishery officer.
Solar panels are installed on the roof of the 1200 sqft building, constructed at a cost of Rs 3.50 lakh, to convert the atmospheric air into hot air, having a temperature of 60 to 65 degrees. The hot air is then blown into the fish-drying chamber set up at the building using a blower.
Four high-speed fans are used to ensure even distribution of the hot air inside the chamber for quick removal of moisture from fish.
Things have totally changed here ever since the solar fish-drier, capable of drying 250 kg of fish in just eight hours hygienically, has been in operation.
“The fisherwomen attached to the Ma Jagulei Self-Help Group (SHG) and other SHGs of the fishing villages dry fish and pack it neatly. Since this is clean, producers get a handsome price, which is unbelievable for the women,” said Pratima Mohanty of village Bari.
Solar heat is concentrated and passed on to metal plates on which the neatly cleaned fish is kept. Since the heat generated in this technique is only optimum, no damage is caused to the fish during the process.
Kumunduni Jena (43) of the SHG claims that the dried fish being produced in this method could be kept even up to one and a half years.
Sabitri Behera(35) is one of the members of the SHG. Her life shows how the group has been devoted to generating a ray of hope in women’s lives here. Once a homemaker, she is now engaged in dry fish business and makes dry-fish items that are in great demand in the market.