Science Forum 2013 (www.scienceforum13.org) Breakout Session 10: Economic Implications

1. SMALL FISH IN IMPROVING NUTRITION,
INCREASING INCOMES AND DEVELOPING
DOWNSTREAM MARKET LINKAGES
Benoy Kumar Barman
Senior Scientist
WorldFish, Bangladesh and South Asia

2. WorldFish Mission and Vision
Mission: To reduce poverty
and hunger by improving
fisheries and aquaculture
Vision: To be the research
partner of choice for
delivering fisheries and
aquaculture solutions in
developing countries

3. 3
WorldFish Research Foci and How They Will Have Impact
Sustainably increase food and
nutrition security through fisheries
and aquaculture
Reduce poverty and vulnerability
through fisheries and aquaculture
Focal Area Key Research Questions
Climate
Change
Vulnerability
and
Adaptation
How will climate change affect fisheries
and aquaculture in developing countries
and how can adaptive capacity be built?
Improved
value chains
How can we improve input and output
value chains to increase the development
impact of aquaculture and fisheries?
Nutrition and
health
How can investments in fisheries and
aquaculture best improved human
nutrition and health?
Gender
equity
How can strengthening the rights of
marginalized fish dependent people reduce
inequality and poverty?
Sustainable
aquaculture
technologies
How do we increase productivity,
ecological resilience and development
impact of aquaculture?
Policies and
practice for
resilience
What policy and management investments
will increase the resilience of small-scale
fisheries and increase their contribution to
reducing poverty and hunger?

4. A Research in Development Using Two Linked
Complementary Levels of Research
Program
of System-Level
Action Research
&
Strategic Research
Agendas
Community
Vision-Informed
Researcher
Leadership
Community Level
Program of Action
Research,
Inquiry and
Capacity Building
Researcher, NGO
& Public Ins
support
Farmer
Leadership
Science
Outputs
Development
Outcomes
Platform for Practice,
Knowledge, Coordination &
Communication

5. “Mache Bhate Bengali” – Fish and Rice
Make Bengali People

6. National, Rural and Urban Annual Fish Intakes Per
Capita, 2000-2010
Source: Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 2007 and 2012
Fish Consumption (kg)
Change in
consumption
(2000-2005)
Change in
consumption
(2005-2010)
2000 2005 2010 (kg) (%) (kg) (%)
National 14.05 15.37 18.07 1.31 9.4 2.70 17.6
Rural 13.8 14.49 16.71 0.69 5.0 2.22 15.3
Urban 14.93 18.1 21.86 3.18 21.2 3.76 20.8

7. Changes in Farmed and Non-Farmed Fish Consumption 957
households in 4 districts, 1996-2006
(IFPRI survey; for 957 households in 4 Districts) Quartile 1 – poorest Q4 – Better-off)
1996 2006
Contribution of farmed fish in household consumption increasingly higher than
non-farmed fish; gap among well-being categories also reduced for farmed and
non-farmed fish consumption

8. Fish Production in Bangladesh - Past, Present
and Future Projection
Fish Production in 2011-12 is 3.262 M MT (DoF, 2012)

9. Acute problems on micronutrient malnutrition of
poorer households especially pregnant women
lactating mother and minor children is very high in
Bangladesh, also in other countries of South Asia.
There are underweight 41%, stunted 43% and
wasted 17% children (UNICEF 2008)
Women and girl child are more subjected to this
problem than boys

10. IFAD funded
Project on Linking Fisheries and Nutrition:
Promoting Innovative Fish Production Technologies
in Ponds and Wetlands with Nutrient-Rich Small
Fish Species in Bangladesh
Small Fish and Nutrition Project

11. Goal of the Project
To increase income, improve nutrition (focus
on first 1000 days of life) of poorer farming
and fishers’ households through increased
production and consumption of small fish (rich
with micro-nutrients)

12. Micronutrient-rich Small fish
‘Mola’ (Amblypharyngodon
mola)

13. Micronutrient-rich Small fish ‘Darkina’ (Esomus
danricus) with few other small fish

14. IFAD Funded Small Fish and
Nutrition Project
Northwest (upland dry
areas with seasonal water
supply): 1,500 households
with small homestead ponds
and pond connected rice
fields
Northeast (areas with
seasonal floodplains called
‘haor’: community groups of
fishers, 500 households
managing a wetland
Both areas with higher
proportion of poorer
households
Duration: 32 months;
completed in June, 2013

15. Activities and Implementation Strategies
Identification of communities with and without project
intervention
Conduct survey of household using simple questionnaire
Selection of households with ponds (1500) and wetland
(517)
Formation of Groups in Communities with ponds (80) and
wetland (21)
Selection of Lead Farmers/Fishers (LFs)
ToT for Support Providers and LFs on Technologies and
Nutrition Education
Training of men and women household members in
communities by LFs
Conduct Household Food Consumption Survey

16. Activities and Implementation Strategies
Development and Uses of Innovative Technologies
Collection and transportation of mola as live for stocking in ponds and
ditches of wetlands
Use of tools to harvest small fish separating from large fish without
stress
Establishment of sanctuaries and application of regulation measures in
gear uses for wetlands
Harvesting small fish regularly for sale and household consumption
Nutrition education to members of households
Awareness on importance of mola for pregnant women, lactating
mother and minor children
Develop methods on how to process and cook mola useful for feeding of
minor children
Sharing Lessons Learned in workshops, visits, conference –
Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Cambodia
Extended support for dissemination of technologies and NE

17. Fish Production and Income from Pond
Fish production and income more than doubled than
baseline year fish production and income
Fish production in pond increased from 1398 ± 307
kg/ha to 2974 ± 408 kg/ha
Gross income BDT 140,000 ±30,000/ha to BDT
320,000± 45,000/ha (I USD = BDT 77)
Contribution of mola and other small fish to total fish
production increased from 4.6 % to 31%.
Fish production and income even higher when ponds
are connected to ricefields during the wet season – fish
production 4093 ± 1909 kg/ha and gross income BDT
440,000 ± 200,000/ha.

18. Mola harvest from pond

19. Investment on fish production in pond
Stocking of mola broodfish (initially) for perennial
pond and every year for seasonal pond; 35 to
40kg/ha, cost BDT 10,000-12,000/ha
Needs extra cost for fertilization of pond and use of
supplementary feed
Cost for netting of ponds for harvest of bulk harvest
of fish, use local gear for harvest of fish for regular
household consumption
Cost associated with the construction of dyke of rice
field if the pond connected to rice fields seasonally for
achieving higher production
Incurred around 15-20% extra investment, complete

20. Fish production and income from wetland
Three-folds increase in fish production from
256kg/ha to 755kg/ha
In a77 ha wetland initial fish production was
19,736kg/ha which increased to 58,101kg/ha
Gross income BDT 20,559/ha to BDT 72,757/ha (1
USD = BDT 77)
Fish species diversity in the wetland increased
from 49 to 68
Contribution of mola in total fish production 8%
(3rd in position before project intervention which
was almost absence

21. Bulk harvest of mola and other small fish
from wetland

22. Extended the impacts of introduction of small
fish in ponds and wetlands
Stocking in one floodplain reported to increase
production of small fish in adjacent floodplains
Communities with ponds stocked with small fish
(mola) increase also helps the availability of mola
in the surrounding aquatic system allowing for
people to get the fish harvest and to use for
income earning and nutritional benefits
Studies are now carrying out in both cases to get
the evidence of the small fish

23. Investment on fish production in wetland
Stocking of mola broodfish (initially) for in
ditches of the wetland 4-5 kg/ha
Payment lease values to the government
Cost for establishment of sanctuaries or
reconstruction of ditches in wetlands
Support to provide alternative income
generation during period on regulation in use of
gears - project tried for establishment of cage
based fingerling involving women members of the
fishers households
Example - Government uses supply of food in
case of ban on fishing of hilsa fishers in coastal
areas

24. Contribution of Mola and Other Small Fish in
Household Consumption
Contribution of small fish from pond in
household consumption, sale 12 % in 2011,
which is increased to 26% in 2012
Contribution of small fish in household
consumption increased from 9.5% in 2011 to
18.6% in 2012

25. Marketing of small fish
Small fish has high demand largely sold in the
farmgate and in local market
Small fish can be purchased even in small amount
easy to afford by poorer consumers
Supply of small fish through regular harvest from
ponds and wetlands useful to meet up the continued
demands of the people for longer period
Fishers received higher proportion of income through
harvest of small fish from ponds and wetlands
Open catch from the floodplains in many cases
allowed landless people to harvest and sell fish for their
livelihoods

26. Nutrition Education

27. Way Forward
Small fish and nutrition project clearly
demonstrated the use of the technologies, its
dissemination and adoption by farmers and
fishers with success
Within 2-3 years of its introduction large
numbers of institutions: DoF, LGED, NGOs,
and WorldFish have taken initiatives for its
promotion in Bangladesh, Nepal and India

28. Way Forward
Needs to take initiative on how the technologies along
with Nutrition Education can be disseminated
throughout Bangladesh and other countries of the
world with having high potential for its promotion to
have major impacts on improved human nutrition and
health
Needs to make the analysis of such success in broader
framework system based framework which includes
economic, social, cultural, gender and environmental
issues for better understanding before wider
dissemination.