active · Climate· Livelihoods

Increasing the commercial production of fish in a sustainable and environmental friendly manner

Rupa Lake Restoration and Fishery cooperative (RLRFC) was established on 14th March 2002 with 36 members with the objective of rehabilitating the Rupa Lake to its prior state, generation of income for its members through sustainable fishing and conservation of local diversity. Currently the cooperative has 772 members and 19 staffs and is producing 51000 kgs of fish yearly. The cooperative has its own nursery and hatchery where they hatch 3 species by themselves and bring in 6 other species from their 40 members who have their own cage culture, fishery research center and Chitwan. In addition to this, the cooperative has started saving and credit service since last 3 years. The cooperative has a strong brand name in the market but is unable to capitalize on it because their supply is not meeting the demand. The cooperative attributes this low production to the weak fingerlings and the practice of not feeding the fish. Their fingerlings have 75% mortality rate that usually occurs during transportation to the lake from various sources, shifting the fingerlings from hatchery to nursery and consumption of the fingerlings by indigenous fish. The cooperative also avoids feeding the fish in the lake because they are afraid it might have negative impact on the bio-diversity, although no studies have been performed and they aren't restricted by government to practice feeding. The cooperative currently lacks direction in absence of a strategic/business plan. After the assessment the BHAG developed is increasing the production by 100% i.e. from 50000 to 100000 kgs in 2 years’ time while protecting the bio-diversity of Rupa Lake. The biggest challenge that the cooperative is facing is on strategic direction and increasing the production therefore RLRFC and Agriterra will mainly focus in this action plan on developing a business strategy and increasing production to meet market demand. For the year 2018, the project plan is to work with RLRFC on: Developing a 3 year strategic plan, Student research on feeding practice, its effect on productivity and bio-diversity and study on current amount of fish in the lake as well as future potential to increase the amount in a sustainable wayAgripool assignment focussing on ways to reduce the mortality rate of fingerlings and increase productionParticipation in Agriterra Internal Capitalization workshopImplementation of action plans as a result of different actions and At the end of 2018 analyze the audited financial report of the cooperative to identify changes in the performance as a result of coordination with Agriterra The BHAG developed with RLRFC is increasing the production by 100% from 50.000 to 100.000 kgs in 2 years’ time while protecting the bio-diversity of Rupa Lake.