WWW.WAS.ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • MARCH 2014 35 (CONTINUED ON PAGE 36) BOX 4. Benefits of the AwF-AIT project in Nepal. I visited six family level-ponds built in Phase One of the project and briefly interviewed three women pond owners. They all expressed satisfaction at being introduced to the culture of carps and tilapia, being able to consume as well as sell table fish and to sell tilapia fingerlings to neighbors. The opening ceremony of a one-day training program for 15 enthusiastic women from Chakratirtha Village was being held during my visit for Phase Two of the project in a local school. In reply to my question “why are you interested in raising fish?” the women enthusiastically replied: • To have fish without spending money. • There’s no need to leave the farm to buy fish. • It’s healthy food. • To resolve child malnutrition. • To earn income. • To offer to guests. • It’s nice to be able to observe fish next to the house, especially when guests visit (and) fish ‘dance’. • Women and children can easily feed the fish. • Some support and information are being provided by the project. Source: Edwards 2011 villages in Lamjung and in two new districts (Gorkha and Kavre) (AwF 2013d). In the first year of project activities, 49 families were supported by forming three women’s groups of 20, 15 and 14 families, respectively, in Gorkha (Putlikhet) and Lamjung (Chakratirtha and Dhamilikuwa) districts (AwF 2013e). In the first year of Phase 2, 49 ponds were constructed and 1,275 kg of fish valued at about US$ 3,600 were produced from 2.58 ha of ponds. This project showed that small family ponds with an average size <100 m² can produce over 40 kg of fish in a production cycle of about 8 months. Total production from Gorkha was more than double that from Chakratirtha and triple that of Dhamilikuwa. Families consumed quite a high proportion of fish produced; in Chakratirtha it was nearly 90 percent, whereas it was at least 60 percent in other locations. Mean fish consumption per family ranged from 5.6 kg in Dhamilikuwa to 25.8 kg in Gorkha. This demonstrated that a significant increase in production and consumption was possible by launching small-scale aquaculture. Within a year, family fish consumption increased to ~10 kg per capita (assuming 4 members per family) whereas the national average was <2 kg per capita. The project therefore showed good potential to fight malnutrition. Another important aspect was the income generated from sales of surplus fish. By selling fish, families in Gorkha earned an average of about NR 2,600/family (US$ 26)/family), which was more than adequate to support the education of two children. The project represents a successful model that could be applied throughout the country and there are signs that this may be happening. A visit to the AwF-AIT project was described by AwF technical advisory group member Peter Edwards (Edwards 2011; Fig. 7, Box 4). (a) (b) FIGURE 7. Difficult terrain for the AwF-AIT projects in Nepal. (a) A farmer and her pond with a scarecrow to frighten away fish-eating birds (Photo: Peter Edwards). (b) Fish fry being transported up a hill. (Photo: Ram Bhujel). NEPAL: AwF-AIT projects The AwF-Nepal project was conducted in conjunction with the Asian Institute of Technology and the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Sciences (IAAS), Nepal. Phase 1 of the AwF-Nepal project was launched in Rainas Tar village of Lamjung, a district in the mid-hills (457.2-609.6 m elevation) of Nepal, and made tremendous impacts on the empowerment of women. Within two years, the project, with a small grant from AwF, had trained more than 70 women and constructed 70 new ponds (Fig. 5). In addition to producing over 500 kg of fish in two seasons through project activities, the project created tremendous awareness about small-scale fish farming among women and families in Lamjung (Fig. 6) and neighboring districts. There was huge interest and scope for small-scale rural aquaculture in these areas of Nepal. The final report of Phase 1 (AwF 2013c) concluded (inter alia) that, although the ponds constructed were quite small and the total production of fish was not large, the large proportion of production consumed by families (80 percent) indicated that ponds played a significant role in family nutrition. There were 300 direct beneficiaries in Phase 1 of this AwF project (Bhujel et al. 2013). Phase 2 involved scaling-up the pilot project to two more
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