Subuhi Naaz sold ready-made clothes in Varanasi after she lost her husband when she was only 27 years old.
From selling clothes to fish farming
By opening a small clothing shop in 1998, she was able to give her son a decent life and an education. However, her situation improved when her son Abdul Rehman completed his Fishery Science degree and informed her about the employment opportunities in fish farming.
Getting into the world of aquaculture
Abdul told Subuhi to start raising fish in 2021, so he did. She applied for a project through the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) even though she didn’t know much about farming. To learn more, she started going to fisheries near Varanasi. She worked hard and got the National Fish Farmers’ Award in 2024. From 2022 to 2024, she raised 83.6 metric tons of fish.
Getting past the first problems
To follow the rules set by PMMSY, Subuhi had to work hard to get enough land. People in the area were skeptical about a middle-aged woman by herself starting a fishery, but she bought one bigha of land in Majhwan village, which is about 30 km from Varanasi. For her first step into fish farming, she built eight concrete tanks on this land.
How to Learn from Mistakes
The first time Subuhi tried to grow fish, things went wrong. Because she wasn’t experienced, only 19,000 of the 38,000 pangasius hatchlings that she let go lived. Even though this loss happened, she kept going and learned from her mistakes. In FY23, she produced 30.2 tons of fish, and in FY24, she produced 36.4 tons, which brought in Rs45 lakh.
Achievements and gratitude
Subuhi’s experimentation with pangasius fish, known for their ability to thrive in environments with low dissolved oxygen and their versatility in raising, proved to be successful. Because there was a lucrative market for her fish and she grew them quickly, her hard work and determination paid off big time in fish farming. She is now a role model for others to follow, showing that amazing things are possible if you are determined and ready to learn.
Subuhi Naaz’s story of going from selling clothes to becoming an award-winning fish farmer shows how strong resilience and drive can be. Her story inspires many, demonstrating how seizing new opportunities and persevering through challenging times can lead to remarkable success.
