INVOLVING WOMEN IN FIELD-TESTING OF A PERIPHYTON ENHANCED AQUACULTURE SYSTEM FOR NUTRITION SECURITY

An on-farm trial of carp polyculture was carried out with participation of women farmers from Sundardeep Women Fish Farmer's Cooperative (15 farmers) in Chitwan District and Mishrit Fish Farmer's Cooperative (22 farmers) in Nawalparasi District to field-test the enhancing effect of periphyton on feed ration and fish production. Farmers stocked 6 carp species and 2 small indigenous species (SIS) in ponds. Farmers were divided into two groups. One group fed their fish with dough of rice bran and mustard oil cake with 50% feeding, while the other group installed bamboo substrates in their ponds and fed their fish with half the amount of the feed used by the first group. Farmers netted and weighed fish monthly to check fish growth and calculate ration. Farmers were provided with a book to record fish that were consumed, sold, or died. Final harvest was done by netting fish in December 2015 after eight months of culture. The netted fish were counted, weighed, and returned to the pond as the farmers wanted to keep fish for their biggest festival, "Maghi", in mid-January. In aggregate, 84% of farmers consumed fish at home, and 40% of farmers sold carps. About 95% farmers sold carps at the pond site, while 5% sold in nearby local markets. In case of farm site sales, both men and women were involved, whereas selling at local markets was solely done by women. The trial showed that culturing carps and SIS with 50% feeding rates and with bamboo substrates in ponds resulted in 22% higher fish production compared to culture of carps with normal feeding. More interestingly, the gross margin of the half-fed, periphyton enhanced carp polyculture was almost double that of the normal fed polyculture system. Periphyton enhanced Carp-SIS polyculture has a potential of enhancing family nutrition and women empowerment among small scale women farmers.