Unlocking Aquaculture Potential: Strategic Pathways for Its Growth in Nepal

Abstract

Aquatic food holds significant cultural and nutritional value in Nepal. However, Nepal’s per capita fish consumption (3.9 kg/year) is significantly lower than the global average (20.7 kg). Total fish supply in Nepal from catch and culture was estimated at 113,736 mt in 2023 and would require a supply of over 0.6 million mt to reach the global average. Given the rapid decline of fishery resources, accelerated development of sustainable aquaculture is crucial. With greater climate resilience, aquaculture can play a vital role in enhancing healthy ecosystems and the rural economy, providing significantly higher returns on land and labour. However, there is a need for a holistic approach to harness the country’s aquaculture potential. There is potential to triple aquaculture production from the existing 15,000 ha of total aquaculture area if current fish productivity of 5.5 tons/ha/cycle could be increased to 17 tons/ha/cycle while halving the culture period from the current 12 to 6 months and allowing farmers to complete two production cycles annually. Transforming traditional low-input and low-output systems of carp culture and promoting the sustainable intensive culture of fast-growing, stress-tolerant species such as tilapia and pangasius is crucial for the scaling up of aquaculture. Setting the milestones of production targets, all the levels of the government of Nepal need to prioritize and promote aquaculture to utilize promising species, modern technologies and experience from various countries. Drawing from the research and development experiences of Nepal and other countries, a roadmap consisting of various sustainable aquaculture development models to unlock Nepal’s aquaculture potential is proposed to significantly increase fish supply and consumption. This includes aquaculture suitability analyses, devising promising technologies for fast-growing and highly productive species, ensuring sustainable input supply and output marketing systems, and creating an enabling policy environment. Special focus needs to be given to public–private sector participation (PPP), especially for the establishment and expansion of hatcheries, nurseries, the feed industry, a network of local service providers (LSPs), transportation, storage, processing and marketing systems.