Livelihood Improvement of

Bote/Majhi Community through

Fish Farming in Village pond
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Majhi, Bote are most deprived communities of Nepal involved in fishing natural fish on ponds,
lakes and rivers for their livelihood. This kind of fisheries i.e. capture fisheries is not providing
enough fishes to fisherman for generating income and maintaining nutritional requirement. Over-
fishing and haphazard use of these resources have resulted decline in fish followed by
malnutrition and economic declination of household associated with resources. Therefore, it is
need to develop the scientific fish production mechanism system with formation of user groups
for sustainable use of pond to improve livelihood of deprived communities. Culture of fish in
village ponds by open stocking technique and pen culture helps in enhancing fish production of
village ponds. This ultimately helps in income generation and provides fish protein and thus
improve livelihood of fisher community associated with village ponds. It also reduces the
excessive pressure and dependence on river and lakes for fishing.

This project will examine the impacts of the fish culture in village pond in the 30 households of
Bote and Majhi community of Ghailaghari village of Jagatpur. The field survey will be taken to
know the existing condition of the village pond and fishing pattern in that area. After that all the
required material and regular training will be given to the fisherman for maintaining and the
culture of the fish in village pond. Facilitator will facilitate the fisherman for the proper
application. FGD, KII, household survey, case study will be done for collecting the information
and the econometric model of double delta model will analyze the impacts of fish culture
whereas the data analysis will be done by SPSS and the Microsoft Excel 2015. Different
variables like fish fingerlings, feed consumption, growth rate, production, market price will be
documented. The finding of the project will guide for the improvement of livelihood of fisher
community via fish culture in village pond.
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND

Village pond and water-logged areas in Nepal is estimated to be about 12,700 ha, which
constitutes about 1.6% of the total water area in the country. Such water resources have played
an important role in rural life, particularly in agricultural practices in different parts of the
country. Theses pond are major excellent sources of irrigation, fishing, tourism and other income
generation activities and maintaining diversity of aquatic animals. There is a great prospect of
fish productions in village ponds. The overall utility of the fisheries sector is to support food
security, enhance livelihood opportunities, and conserve and manage natural resources to achieve
the goal of sustainable national development. One of the national policy objectives is to develop
extensive natural productivity –based carp poly-culture techniques in village ponds through
mobilization of local community. Currently, about 1,612 ha of village ponds have been utilized
for fish culture and the average yield is reported to be 1,300 kg/ha [ CITATION Gub15 \l 1033 ].
Efforts have been made in past to understand the management of various aspects of performance
of ponds and water bodies. Despite potential and efforts, the large scale utilization of village
ponds is limited because of poor planning and implementation, poorly functioning inputs and
output markets, lack of fisherman’s skill to use pond effectively and poor institutional
arrangements including unclear property rights. Small scale fisherman, especially those on inland
waters, are among the poorest of the rural poor in Nepal facing apparently insurmountable
obstacles in the existing economic and social power structures as they attempt to better
themselves. Capacity enhancement and technological development is needed for supporting poor
and deprived ethnic communities, associated with fishery activities in village ponds through
participatory approach.[ CITATION shr15 \l 1033 ]

Ghailaghari pond is inundated water body of 5 ha, lying in the outskirt of Jagatpur Buffer Zone
Area of Chitwan National Park near Rapti river. The mean depth of pond is 5 meter. It is about
20 kilometer west from Bharatpur, the headquarter of Chitwan district. It is rich in biodiversity
including important fish species like Sahar(Tor putitora ), Katle ( Heteropneustes fossilis), Hile
(Channa sp.) with other small indigenous fish species and Tortoise.[ CITATION Ann72 \l 1033 ] The
area is inhabited by Brahmins, Chhetris, Magar, Tharus, along with marginalized Darai, Bote and
Majhi communities. Around 25 household are lived near Ghailaghari pond, most of them are
poor and their major source of income is capture fisheries. The annual production of fish from
pond is about 3 t.[ CITATION Bik17 \l 1033 ]. These deprived communities are involved in fishing
natural fish and other aquatic species (for example prawns, shellfish and crabs) available in pond.
Due to various reasons, fish species composition and production is declining in pond which
results in low catch of fish and effect income of fisherman and their nutrition status. So, proper
management of pond is necessary to restock pond and enhance production of fish sustainably
through participatory approach which ultimately improve the livelihood of fisherman associated
with Ghailaghari pond.

1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Communities depending on Ghailaghari pond for their livelihood are mostly doing capture
fisheries using gill nets and cast nets. Open stocking of pond is not scientific, which is not giving
proper production. Fisherman have little knowledge about fish stock, its feeding and culture
techniques and overall management of pond for higher production by using suitable and
sustainable technology. There is no limit on fishing quantity, fish species or fishing season in
pond which causes deterioration of fish number and types. This over-fishing and haphazard use
of pond have resulted decline in fish followed by malnutrition and economic declination of
household associated with pond. Therefore, it is need to develop the scientific fish production
mechanism system with formation of user groups for sustainable use of pond to improve
livelihood of deprived communities associated with pond. This proposal aims to develop
participatory approach for improving livelihood of fisher community by rehabilitation of pond
through scientific aquaculture techniques.

1.3 RATIONALE OF STUDY

Capture fisheries is not providing enough fishes to fisherman for generation income and
maintaining nutritional requirement. Thus, culture of fish in village pond provides easy access of
commercial valued fish which will reduce their dependency on capture fisheries and improve
their livelihood. Carp species grow well in Terai region and they maintain biodiversity of aquatic
ecosystem as they are also our indigenous species. The productivity is also high (4-10
tonnes/hactre). Open stocking of Carp species in pond and pen culture of same species near
shoreline area of pond makes proper utilization of pond and gives higher production of fish than
capture fisheries does. Fisherman utilizes their time on other income generating activities as fish
culture in pond is not lengthy and laborious process. User groups maintain regulation and
support mechanism for proper utilization of pond and interlink with other supportive
organizations. Thus, this project helps in generating more income by selling fish, maintain their
nutritional status and ultimately improve livelihood of marginalized community.

1.4 Scope and limitations

Scope

1)Improve livelihood of fisher community

Fish culture provides employment opportunity as well as additional income which will ultimately
improve livelihood of fisherman.

2)Nutritional support

Fish is good source of animal protein, vitamins and other micronutrients. Fish production from
pond will fulfill nutritional requirement of fisher community, especially children.

3)Reduction of dependency on river fisheries

Since river, lakes are the source of fish collection. With the implementation of pond fish
production, there will be fewer obligations to depend on forest. This will minimize the pressure
of river and lakes.

4)Utilization of village pond

This project will help in proper utilization of Ghailaghari village pond as it contains adequate
amount of unutilized water and it will be used for fish culture.

Limitations

1)Natural calamitiy

The area is one of the recent flood covered area of 2017. Flood is the major problem for this area
and it could limit fish production and expected outcome of this project.

2) Fund
The project is being run at very limited fund. The project may not reach its expectation if any
ungodly circumstances arise at the time of project.
3) Predators

The project area lies near buffer zone of Chitwan National Park. So, there is always risk of
predators like Crocodile and fish feeding Birds.

1.5 Objective

The project aims to increase income of fisher community of Ghailaghari village through fish
production from village pond. This proposed project is primarily directed with the objective of
improving livelihood of fisher community of the area and also the project is envisaged to achieve
the following further objectives:

1. To identify fisherman’s perception on shifting from fish catch to fish culture.

2. To analyze the impact of fish culture in village pond on fisher community and their income

3. To reduce the level of poverty through fish farming by providing additional income.

5. To utilize the aquatic resources properly.

6. To provide with institutional support and skills required to conduct the fish culture.
7. To enhance the river and fisheries resources by reducing the reliability on fish.

1.6 Hypothesis

The research will be done based on following null hypothesis:

1)There is no significant difference in fish production from village pond after implementation of
this project.
2)There is no difference in income of fisher community after implementation of this project.

1.7 Research Questions

1. What are the factors to determine fish culture and its production in village pond?
2. What are the impacts of fish culture in village pond on fisher community?

3. What are the major problems faced during village pond fish culture?
4. Is the method reliable and adoptable for livelihood improvement of fisher community?
5. Which one is sustainable, either fish catch from aquatic resources or culture of fish in them?

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Condition of Fisher Community

The Bote, Majhis and Darai communities are fisher folks categorized as marginalized groups,
historically and culturally dependent on river and pond resources for a living. These groups are
socially, economically, culturally and politically excluded landless communities. Majority of
them are residing in the vicinity of Chitwan National Park. Slowly, the forces of modernization
and the intrusion of state control over natural resources displaced these groups from their
traditional occupations and sources of livelihood.[ CITATION Sud07 \l 1033 ]

2.2 Fish culture practices in Lakes/Ponds

Small scale fishers, especially those on inland waters, are among the poorest of the rural poor in
Nepal facing apparently insurmountable obstacles in the existing economics and social power
structures as they attempt to better themselves. Releasing finger sized baby fish(fingerlings) into
Phewa,Rupa and Begnas lakes of Pokhara valley and re-catching them which they grow bigger
using fishing devices like gill net, cast net, line, hook etc, increase in fish production by 2 times.
[ CITATION Wag05 \l 1033 ]

In Kulekhani area, community displaced in 1982, by the construction of Kulekhani hydropower

dam has been resettled and provided a source of income and employment through open stocking
and cage culture. A total of 231 families are now organized into 11 farmers groups for fish
culture.[ CITATION wag15 \l 1033 ] Fish production has been increasing and all these communities
have been able to generate a higher income, which consequently have resulted in significant
improvement to their livelihoods. Over the years of fish farming in reservoir also stimulated the
development of a captue fishery, based on escapes and naturally recruited species, all of which
have significantly contributed to increasing a fish affordable animal protein source to nearby
communities.[ CITATION Gur \l 1033 ]

2.3 Economics of Open water stocking and Pen Culture

Open stocking of fish to pond and culture them for required period is a method to maximize
production of fish from a limited resource of water and land. Fish grows in an open water and
increase weight by consuming naturally produced phytoplankton and zooplankton. Different carp
species like Common carp(Cyprinus carpio), Rohu ( Labeo rohita), Silver (Hypophthalmichthys
molitrix), Big head (Aristichthys nobilis) are used in culture for better exploitation of different
ecological niches of the pond ecosystem. Different carp species are stocked at a stocking density
of 7000 fish/ha. No supplementary feeding of fertilization is needed which reduces the input
cost. The yield is 2 to 3 tones of fish per hectare. The harvesting period is 1 to 1.5 years.
[ CITATION FAO12 \l 1033 ]

Pen culture, also called enclosure culture is raising of fish in a volume of water enclosed on all
sides except bottom, permitting the free circulation of water at least from one side. Mostly
shallow regions along shores and banks of the lakes and ponds are used in making pens from net
materials where fish can be raised. Pen have the advantage of containing a benthic fauna, which
serves as food for the fish and polyculture can be practiced in pens. Fish culture in pens in Nepal
started in 1884 at the lakes of Pokhara valley. Depth around 2 meter is suitable for establishing
pen. Materials used in pen construction are :

 Wall net(10 mm polyethylene thread) with a mesh size of 2-2.5 cm.

 Bamboo or wooden stake of 3”* 4”
 Concrete blocks of 3-5 kg [ CITATION Shr12 \l 1033 ]

Fishes which are herbivorous, planktivorous or detritivorous, fast growing and tolerant to
temperature and dissolved oxygen fluctuation are suitable for fish culture in pens. In Nepal,
Silver carp, Bighead carp and Grass carp are popular for culture in pens. The stocking density in
pens take a range of 5000-10000 fingerlings/hactre with average size of fingerlings should be 20-
25 gm.[ CITATION Shr12 \l 1033 ]

3 MATERIALS AND METHOD

3.1 Selection of study area

The project will be carried out in Bharatpur-26, Jagatpur. A village named Ghailaghari will be
selected based on the presence of village pond, population of Bote/Majhi community, their social
status and income. Fishing in village pond Rapti river is the main occupation of this area and
mainly subsistence.

3.2 Selection of Household

Among the 50 household of Ghailaghari, 30 household of Bote/Majhi depended on village pond

and involved in fishing will be selected as sample. The Bote/Majhi will be identified with the
help of data from Bharatpur metropolitan and Chitwan National Park. The baseline survey will
be conducted in selected household.

3.3 Study design

The empirical data will be based on field survey that will be carried out in Ghailaghari,Jagatpur.
Several discussions will be carried out with the fisherman. Following methods will be used in
study:

 Focus group discussion: FGD will be taken at 2 months interval after the third months of
the project starts. The entire fisherman will be called for the discussion about the fishing
pattern, problems of fishing and changes made by fish culture in pond. Female will be
enhanced and participatory approach will be applied most.
 Household survey: A baseline survey of the household will be conducted to collect the
primary information and to access the fish catch of selected household. Basic socio-
economic and demographic information will be collected by personal interview using
semi-structured questionnaire. Similarly, a survey will be conducted at the end of the
project of the same household to gather the information on production of fish and income
generation.
 Key informant interview: The local fish farmer, fisherman from other communities will be
interviewed with the preparation of checklist and their perception will be collected.
3.4 Methods and techniques of Data analysis

Information collected from household survey, focus group discussion will be coded first and
entered into computer. Data entry will be done by using Software package, Statistical Package
for Social Sciences (SPSS), Microsoft excel 2015. Descriptive analysis will be done to analysis
of data.

The data like name, age, year, educational status, occupation, land holding, source of income,
and some sensitive data by using simple descriptive statistics like mean and standard deviation.
Impacts of fish culture, effects on nutritional status, role of women in fishing will be studied by
estimating frequency, percentage, charts and diagrams.

Methodological approach for impact evaluation

Determination and analysis of the impacts of the fish culture in village pond and the data
collected in the baseline and end line survey are compared from the given approach.

Before and after approach

It will compare the condition of the same 30 household before the fish culture was introduced
and after the application of fish culture in village pond. Baseline survey will assist for the data
generation about the condition.

With and without approach

It will compare the condition of the household as fish cultured with the household without the
fish culture. 30 household will be controlled group that will be compared with fish culture
household (30 households)

Double delta model

This model will be approached in this project for impact analysis of fish culture in village pond
of Ghailaghari. The field survey data will be analyzed for impact evaluation.

The empirical formula for the double delta model

Impact or change Y (ist): δ (AWist-BWist) - λ (AWOit-BWOist)

Where, Y (ist) = real impact of fish culture

A= explanatory variables after fish culture

 B = before project of the treatment household.

i = individual household

s= country/ district

t= time

Whereas W denotes with project household and WO denotes without project household.

3.5 Field work

User group formation: The user group will be formed consisting each member from 30
household including at least 33 percent of woman. The user group will be the main body that
operates fish culture and manage all the necessary requirements for fish culture. It will be
facilitated by fish specialist, fish farmer and fish marketing persons.

Training: The information about the importance of fish culture will be disseminated among the
members of user group. Training will be conducted monthly. Training about the process of fish
stocking, pond management, disease inspection and fish health, materials required and its
application, regular growth check up and fish harvesting will be provided by the experts.
Training will be given from the first month of the project and will be continued for last month.

Material distribution: The user group will be provided with required Fingerlings, Cow dung,
lime, Wall net, Cast net, Drag net, wooden stakes and Concrete blocks. Locally available
materials will be prioritized.

Pond preparation and Stocking: The pond will be limed at 500 kg/ha with agriculture lime
(Calcium carbonate). After 15 days of liming, the pond will be fertilized with cow dung at the
rate of 5000 kg/ha. This will helps in production of phytoplankton and zooplankton which
provides food for fish. Fingerlings will be stocked in ponds after a week of fertilization. Pond
will be stocked with fingerlings of Rohu(6 gm), Common carp(9gm), Silver carp (7 gm),
Bighead carp(7 gm) and other small indigenous species(SIS) like Dedhuwa, Pothi, Mola etc.
Fingerling of Rohu, Common carp, Silver carp, Bighead carp and SIS will be stocked at 2000,
3000, 3000, 2500 and 30000 per hectare respectively.

Facilitation: Facilitation will be conducted fortnightly interval. Sharing information about regular
liming, fertilizer application will be done. Techniques and methods for fish growth checking and
harvesting will be facilitated.
Monitoring and Evaluation: Monitoring and evaluation will be done periodically to know the
progress of the project towards its objective.

4 BENEFICIARIES
The primary beneficiaries will be the fisherman of Ghailaghari village of Jagatpur. Fisherman
will be benefited through the generation of income from fish production.

The secondary beneficiaries will be the community members dwelling there through the
improvement in their social status. The children will get proper nutrition and their health status
also will be improved.

The tertiary beneficiaries will be the development workers/ planners/ researchers and students
who will be able to study the scenario of the fisherman and fish culture at present and the impact
of the project in coming days.

5 EXPEXTED OUTCOMES
Since the fish catch from village pond and Rapti river has declined and it has affected the income
generation of fisher community of nearby area. This project aimed to improve the livelihood of
Bote/Majhi community and following positive outcomes have been expected from this project :

 Increased income generation through selling fish and fisheries product.

 Proper Utilization of Village pond.
 Improved nutritional status as fish provides large amount of protein.
 Dependency on traditional and time consuming fishing will be reduced.
 Improve leadership among the fisherman
 Free time can be utilized in other income generation activities.
 Culture of fish in Village pond helps in controlling of illegal fishing in nearby river and
lakes.
6. Gantt chart

1-Jan 20-Feb 11-Apr 31-May 20-Jul 8-Sep 28-Oct 17-Dec 5-Feb

Site selection
Household selection
Baselins survey
Focal group discussion and Workshop
User Group formation
Training
Material distribution and pond preparation
Stocking
Facilitating
Growth check
Monitoring and Evaluation visits
Harvesting
Endline survey
Data analysis
Report preparation and presentation
7 BUDGET SUMMARY

S.N. Description Quantity Rate per unit Total Amount

1. Training cost
1.1. Trainer 2 25,000 50,000
1.2. Stationary 10,000
items
Subtotal 60,000
2. Transportation 20,000
cost
3. Facilitating
cost
3.1 Facilitator 5 15,000 75,000
3.2 Assistant 5 8,000 40,000
3.3 Equipments 15,000
Subtotal 1,40,000
4. Materials
4.1. Net 20000 20000
4.2 Fingerlings 200000
4.3 Block and stake 10000 10000
4.4 Harvesting 10000
Subtotal 2,40,000
5. Monitoring and 50,000
Evaluation
6. Survey
6.1 Baseline survey
6.1.1 Eneumenator 10 2,000 20,000
6.2. Endline survey
6.2.1 Eneumenator 10 2,000 20,000
Subtotal 40,000
7. Miscelleneous 20,000
TOTAL 6,10,000
8 LOGICAL FRAMEWORK

Narrative summary Objectively Means of verification Risks and

Verifiable indicator assumptions
1.Goal: Improve livelihood of fisher community by fish culture in village pond
2.Purpose: improved By the end of 2018, Survey report Political stability
income and fisherman will get 80 Lab report Dissemination and
nutritional status of % raised income from adoption of
fisher community fish production. technology.
through fish culture By the end of 2018,
in village pond using fisherman will start
open stocking and consume 50 % more
pen culture amount of fish.
techniques
3.Outputs:
1. Designed, managed 1.By the end of Baseline report Timely availability of
and formed user March,2018, Endline report the materials
group of 30 Ghailaghai pond user Key informant survey required.
fisherman for fish group will be formed. Project report
culture.
2.By the end of
2. Installed pen April,2018,Fisherman
structure and stocked will be trained by
fish fingerling into fisheries expert about
the pond fish culture.
3.By the end of
3. Managed 2018, fisherman will
harvesting and sell harvested fish to
marketing procedure. near market.

4. Activities S.N. Description Quanti Rate per Total

1.1 Rapid ty unit Amount
rural 1. Training cost
assessment 1.1. Trainer 2 25,000 50,000
1.2 Group 1.2. Stationary 10,000
discussion items
1.3 Stakeh Subtotal 60,000
older meeting 2. Transportation 20,000
 1.4 Baseli cost
ne study 3. Facilitating
1.5 Traini cost
ng on group 3.1 Facilitator 5 15,000 75,000
mobilization 3.2 Assistant 5 8,000 40,000
1.6 Traini 3.3 Equipments 15,000
ng to the Subtotal 1,30,000
fisherman. 4. Materials
2.1 Transportation of 4.1. Net 30 1000 30000
materials and 4.2 Fingerlings 1.5 250000 375000
fingerlings 4.3 Block and 10 1000 10000
2.2Exposure visit for stake
fisherman 4.4 Harvesting 20000
3.1Workshop for Subtotal 4,35,000
fisherman for fish
5. Monitoring 50,000
culture
and Evaluation
3.2 Household visit.
6. Survey
4.1Material
6.1 Baseline
distribution to farmer.
survey
5.1Monitoring and
evaluation 6.1.1 Eneumenator 10 2,000 20,000
6.1Baseline survey 6.2. Endline survey
6.2Endline survey 6.2.1 Eneumenator 10 2,000 20,000
7.Miscellaneous Subtotal 40,000
7. Miscelleneous 20,000
TOTAL 7,55,000

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