Now, go for freshwater pearl in your backyard

eNarada, Bengaluru, August 20, 2016

Cultured pearls have literally overtaken the natural pearls. In fact, most of the pearls used today are cultured pearls while those from nature account less than 1/1000th of a per cent of pearls available in the market.

Now, it is your chance to go for a pearl farm in your neighborhood.

Freshwater pearl production can be started in land area as small as 50 square metres, few thousand litres of water, lesser investment and almost-no-labour. It can be integrated with table/ornamental fish culture in existing/new water bodies of manageable size. It is better to be started on a small scale, without affecting the regular occupation.

Utilising their established demonstration unit, the Inland Fisheries Unit (Main Research Station), University of Agricultural Sciences, Hebbal, Bengaluru-24 conducts a regular four-day hands-on training programme to impart both knowledge and skill on freshwater pearl production.

The programme will be held in batches consisting of 12 members each, on first-come-first-served basis. The training fee is Rs 8,000 (inclusive of food and dormitory accommodation). Interested candidates can contact Professor Dr.B.V. Krishnamurthy on 080-23515644 or 09448377863 between 10 am-4 pm, according to a release.