AwF Nepal field report submitted
Category:Updates
AwF volunteer, Nicolas Mazurier, visited two areas in Nepal recently to see how the AwF-funded projects were progressing and to provide feedback so that we may improve our future activities in this region. Background reports on AwF activities in Nepal can be found on our Projects page and Completed Projects page.
Nicolas observed that generally farmers were pleased with their efforts to farm fish for food and supplementary income but were being challenged by some specific issues such as pond size being too small to be commercially viable, water shortages in some areas, and predation by snakes and birds.
More capacity building activities such as information and technology transfer are recommended to enhance the benefits achieved to date. And greater collaboration between AwF and the District Agriculture Development Office was encouraged to leverage the resources of both in delivering technical support. The creation of cooperatives to develop the marketing side of fish production was seen as a good sign.
Despite some challenges (that can be readily addressed), the satisfaction of a large number of farmers and their willingness to develop their aquaculture activities along market-oriented lines is encouraging. It shows that dedication pays and that small-scale aquaculture can lead to greater productivity and profitability.
Click here to read the report and click here to read the translations of his videos (to be loaded soon).