Gender and aquaculture:
Sharing the benefits from fish farming equitably
in the areas of nutrition, health, education,
training and social safety nets within the
aquaculture sector and how these translate
into opportunities for and constraints to
employment.
Aquaculture projects often focus on
increasing the availability of food, one of
the “pillars of food security”, but the other
two “pillars” —access to food and intra-
household utilization — receive much less
attention. Productivity and income increases
from fish ponds at the household level in
Bangladesh are not necessarily translated
into nutrition gains for women and girls
(Kumar and Quisumbing, 2010). However,
where poor women were provided with the
enabling conditions to claim long-term rights
over public water bodies, as in the case of
the Oxbow Lakes Project in Bangladesh
through the formation of fish farming groups,
the engagement of and benefits to women
have been sustained (Nathan and Apu, 1998).
Thus, well-being of women depends on their
access to and control of significant decision-
making related to the allocation of resources
both within the farm and the household.
The impact of large-scale interventions on
the aquaculture sector in terms of access
to assets and capabilities, such as micro-
finance and micro-enterprise training, has
only been marginally explored in developing
countries (for example, Medard, 2005).
Women in Aquaculture in Nepal:
Factors for success
“Women in Aquaculture (WIA) in Nepal”,
an adaptive research project involving
women members of fishing communities
among the Tharu, Darai and Bote
ethnic minority groups was carried out
in Chitwan and Nawalparasi districts to
diversify their livelihood options. The
project encompassing social, economic,
agro-ecological and institutional
aspects successfully developed a
model for homestead pond aquaculture
development (Shrestha et al., 2009).
The project focused on development of
farmers’ clusters and the introduction
of backyard pond aquaculture to their
existing crop-livestock based farming
systems during the first phase (2000-
2002); its integration with livestock
and horticultural enterprises in the
second phase (2003-2005); and its
further improvement by development
of freshwater prawn-fish integrated
systems in the third phase (2005-
2007). Women’s empowerment through
developing and strengthening their
organization was the key focus of the
project throughout. In the initial years,
concurrent to aquaculture intervention,
savings groups involving women
members of the households were
formed, which developed into a fully-
fledged cooperative by the sixth year.
All project participants continued
expanding and intensifying fish culture
systems, depending on their resource
base. In 2008, estimated fish production
per household ranged from l0 to 550 kg
with an average of 114 kg, which was
at least double the amount of the initial
years. In general, a half to two-thirds of
the production was used for household
consumption while the surplus was sold,
generating an average income of USD
103 per household (Pant et al., 2009).
The per capita fish consumption in a
WIA project household was estimated
at 11.0 kg, seven times higher than the
national average in Nepal of 1.5 kg.
The ‘WIA in Nepal’ project has been
widely commended as a success story
by governmental and non-governmental
organizations, both at national and
international levels. Its success is
attributed to the empowerment of
women members who, after getting
organized in a cooperative owned and
managed by themselves, achieved
access to and control over resources as
well as increased decision-making roles
in their households and community.