Vinod Yadav, an engineer from here, has set an example in Haryana by cultivating pearls in his backyard, an official said on Monday.
Yadav, hailing from Jamalpur village here on Pataudi road, is earning more than Rs 4 lakh per year by pearl farming in a 20x20 feet pond.
Gurugram's Deputy Commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh said in 2016, Yadav and his uncle Suresh Kumar came to the District Fisheries Department to get information about fisheries.
He had a 20x20 feet plot due to which he could not afford fish farming on that land.
"In such a situation, District Fisheries Officer Dharmendra Singh guided him to cultivate pearls and sent Yadav to the Central Institute of Fresh Water Aquaculture, Bhubaneswar for a one-month training in pearl culture," Vinay Pratap Singh said.
Today, Yadav is cultivating pearls on almost one bigha land (one fifth of an acre).
Dharmendra Singh said Gurugram is the first district in the state to start pearl farming.
"Due to the good results, other districts are also working in this direction. A 50 per cent subsidy is also given to farmers cultivating pearls by the Fisheries Department," Dharmendra Singh told IANS.
It costs about Rs 40,000 to prepare infrastructure for pearl cultivation and one session of cultivation takes around eight to 10 months.
The officer said natural pearls are formed by nature. On the other hand, cultured pearls are human creations formed by inserting a tissue graft from a donor oyster, upon which a pearl sac forms and the inner side precipitates calcium carbonate in the form of nacre or "mother-of-pearl".
Yadav said: "Initially, we didn't know anything about pearl cultivation except seashell. Fisheries officer Singh told us about pearl cultivation through seashells."
--IANS
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