BPP Partnership Impact Series: Developing aquaculture for local markets in Nepal

Since its launch, the Business Partnerships Platform (BPP) has worked with ambitious partners to deliver meaningful, lasting change in communities across the world. Our new BPP Partnership Impact Series celebrates outcomes and lessons from our partnerships, highlighting their contributions to inclusive economic growth, resilience and sustainable development.

We begin the series with our COVID-19 Recovery partnerships in Nepal, which concluded in 2024. These partnerships were established in response to the urgent social and economic impacts of the pandemic and have delivered valuable results across healthcare, livelihoods and supply chains.

Future-proofing Nepal’s fisheries

A BPP partnership between Shreenagar Agro group, Science Technology Engineering Maths Social Enterprise Learning (STEMSEL), ThinkAqua and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has been improving fish production in Nepal, benefiting producers and consumers, since 2021.

The partnership trained farmers to use new fish feeds and technologies and supported them to get the right equipment and advice. This especially helped women, youth and returned migrants from disadvantaged groups to develop thriving aquaculture businesses with increased yields, while giving consumers access to high-quality local fresh fish.

About the partnership

The fisheries sector is vital to Nepal, however outdated practices have produced roughly half the volume of fish per hectare, compared to neighbouring countries India and Bangladesh.

Through the partnership, Nepali agribusiness Shreenagar’s nutritious fish feed plant was scaled to more farmers, with training offered for better aquaculture management.

Farmers were taught how to use and access affordable technology which can sense water quality, waste levels and oxygen. With this data, they could optimise conditions for boosting the quality and quantity of their yields. The partnership was also able to trial AI technology to simplify the production of high quality of fish food, alerting fish farmers to environmental issues which might have previously resulted in disastrous losses.

By addressing the gaps with access to training, higher quality fish food, improved practices and better monitoring of pond health, the partnership has delivered increased yields for farmers and a stable food source for the broader community.

Impact

During the BPP partnership period, the impact included:

• More local jobs: more than 3,100 people trained, including 705 women and 1,678 from disadvantaged groups, leading to 1,357 new jobs in the fish value chain
• Boost to food supply: fish yield increased by 66%, from an average of 1,441kg per household to 2,399kg per household.
• Better technology: using Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other technologies to make sure ponds are healthy and keep farmers connected.
• Improved wages: gross income boosted by 45% on average, from AUD$4,509 to AUD$6,530
• Sustainable practices: using better fingerlings, solar pumps and proper oxygen circulation in aquaculture ponds.

Ponds of prosperity: partnership highlight

Srijana Tharu Chaudhary is using the skills and confidence learned through the partnership to help create a brighter future for her family.

The family used to survive on a meagre income from traditional farming methods until Srijana dug a pond on her family’s land to establish an aquaculture pond in 2021. 

Thanks to training and support, Srijana’s increased income is helping her family to thrive, with her brother and sister able to access improved education and a booming business.

View the full partnership impact story below or download here.