It is not easy to earn money. I have now reached the age of 50. I am still busy around the fish pond. Since there is no other business other than agriculture, the market has been affected by fish brought from outside, but I have not stopped raising fish. I am still selling 10/15 kg of fish daily for 350 to 500 rupees per kg.

I did fish farming because I didn't have to till it like other crops like food crops, vegetables, and other crops, and I could feed it once or twice a day. I followed the leader for a job at first. No one listened to me. After fish farming, I got a job at home. I don't have to rely on others to educate my daughter and meet household expenses. I couldn't compete with the cheap fish brought in from outside and sold at the same price, so last year I didn't sell fish from two ponds, but I still didn't give up.

When I remember the year 2052, I remember the rebellion started by the then Maoists. Due to the influence of the rebellion in the district, I couldn't study well in the village. After passing my SLC in 2051 from the village school, I went to Dang to study for IA. I spent about two years there. The then Maoists also had influence in Dang. So after passing IA, I went to Kathmandu, the capital, in 2053 to study for my bachelor's degree. At that time, Kathmandu was the destination for many like me.

I started fish farming by building a pond in a border area with an investment of 350,000 that I earned from Dubai. I went to Kathmandu, but there was no environment to study comfortably. Financial problems started to plague me. When other problems started to follow, I was forced to drop out of my bachelor's degree. And then I returned home. I tried hard to get a job as a teacher in my village, but I was not successful. I remained unemployed for a long time. I felt like I was a burden to my parents while living at home. So in 2065 BS, at the age of 31, I went to Dubai to earn money. I faced a lot of hardship there.

I started fish farming by building a pond on seven ropanis of land and now I have expanded it to 20 ropanis. There are 12 ponds. I have raised different types of fish in all of them. The goal was to earn 1 million rupees annually by raising fish. That's why I increased my investment from 350,000 to 1.3 million. In the beginning, I made a good income. I earned 400,000 more every year. Since last year, the business has been in trouble due to fish coming from outside. The fish are no longer being sold as before. What used to earn up to 400,000 rupees annually is now only good for eating.

I have been selling the fish in the pond built on 20 ropani land for five months a year, Kartik, Mangsir, Poush, Magh and Falgun. I had thought that I would sell fish at the rate of 200,000 rupees per month. Lately, due to the lack of markets nearby, I have been limited to 100,000 rupees as there is not much business. I have to bring fish feed from Dang. The feed alone costs 40-50 thousand rupees per month. From the sales, I save 50,000 rupees. I now have a family of five including three daughters. I do not have to buy food as rice, corn, wheat and mustard are produced on my own land.