Improvement of Women’s Livelihoods, Income and Nutrition through Carp-SIS-Prawn Polyculture in Terai, Nepal

Many poor Nepalese women and children suffer malnutrition caused by vitamin and mineral deficiencies. In December 2008, the project “Improvement of women’s livelihoods, income and nutrition through carp-SIS-prawn polyculture in Terai, Nepal” was launched in Chitwan, a district, to test the possible role of small indigenous fish species (SIS) in combating malnutrition. Fifty household ponds of 100 m2 each were constructed and stocked with carp such as rohu (Labeo rohita), silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix), bighead carp (Aristichthys nobilis) and mrigal (Cirrihinus mrigala), and SIS such as dedhwa (Esomus danricus), mara (Amblypharyngodon mola), pothi (Puntius sophore) and prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii). Average total production was 2.6 t.ha^-1.year^-1 but was affected by low stocking rates and mortality caused by poisoning from canal water. On average, the farmers’ households consumed 54% of the production. Farmers, all of whom were women, and their families consumed all SIS and sold surplus carp and prawns. Their fish consumption was above that of the national average, which is still low by world standards. Farmers earned Nepalese rupee 1,523 household^-1 in 250 days. The study’s results, although modest, are a promising start to introducing new farming practices to increase the income, food and nutritional standards of women and their households.