Young entrepreneur Hina sets up hi-tech fish farm; aims to capture int’l market share

Young Hina Parray decided to venture into the entrepreneurial world and set up a first-of-its-kind fish farm in Pulwama area of South Kashmir. One year into it, the business administration student has proved her mettle at a young age of twenty. She says her dream is to see the fishes of her farm being imported to other parts of the world.
“This is how Young India is contributing to New India. Young entrepreneur Hina Parray is an inspiration to the youth of Jammu & Kashmir,” were the words of Union Minister of State, Information and Broadcasting and Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Dr. L. Murugan when he visited to inaugurate the fish farm of Hina Parray, in October 2021.
Hina, a student of BBA at University of Kashmir, from Jawbehara area of Awantipora in Pulwama district, turned into an entrepreneur at a very young age.
While she continues with her studies in business administration, Hina invests a dedicated time in her fish farming to explore other possibilities.
“I used to go fishing with my father… that is how I developed my interest in fisheries. I was always excited to see fish ponds. I told my father that I wanted to do something in fisheries,” Hina told Rising Kashmir.
Her father’s support, as Hina says, landed her into the business of advanced fish farming, which is based on Recirculatory Aquaculture Systems (RAS) technology for culture of high quality rainbow trout.
“Two years ago, in 2020, I told my family that I wanted to start a business like this. My uncles, mom, and everyone supported me. My family even told me that they would do everything possible to help me to fulfill my dream,” Hina said.
Two years later, her two units are a first of its kind project in the private sector in Kashmir. “In our first year we had an annual production worth Rs 25 lakhs,” Hina said.
According to Hina, it all started by selling a part of their family land to construct the farm.
” I got full support from my family. Accordingly, I approached the Department of Fisheries in Pulwama, and applied for the fish-farm units under Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana,” she said.
PMMSY was rolled out in 2020, and has been designed to address critical gaps in the fisheries value chain from fish production, productivity, quality, technology, post-harvest infrastructure and marketing.
Coming up at an estimated cost of Rs 2.45 crore with a total subsidy of Rs 60 lakhs under PMMSY, Hina’s units house ten circular tanks with a capacity of 50,000 liters water each.
Hina believes that it is the time to look beyond government jobs.
“It is not all about government jobs. We as youth of J&K need to come out of that thought process. The jobs are very limited now. We can start our own work or business no matter how small it is,” Hina told Rising Kashmir.
With this, one can not only earn bread and butter for her/himself but can provide employment to others.
“In my farm ten other people are employed presently who earn their bread and butter here. You can generate employment for others,” she said.
Hina is now planning to upgrade it with more machinery and a processing unit.
Reiterating that it started with selling a part of family land, and “today we are here”, she concluded, as she feels content with the decision she has taken in her life.