Rural Livelihood Project (Fishery enterprise development workshop 05-11.08.2009)
The Rural Livelihood Project organized a workshop on fishery enterprise development for extentionists from different districts. The participants shared experiences and challenges in executing fishery programs. The workshop included training aspects on good aquaculture practices.
Discussing the agenda for the day
The workshop on fishery enterprise development brought together extensionists from different districts to share ideas on fishery enterprise development, including expert advice from resource persons on topics ranging from fish breeding and management, fish diseases and treatments to legislation and acts related to fishery development in Bhutan. The recent MoA strategy of OGTP (one-gewog-three-products) provided an overall framework for the discussions on future plans.
5 out of the 8 invited dzongkhags where the warm water fishery program has been started were represented (all males). Resource persons from the Department of Livestock, the National Warm Water Fish Culture Center (Galephu), the National Cold Water Fishery Center (Haa) and a consultant participated. RDTC and RLP jointly facilitated the workshop.
Berti Community (First fish harvest 09.08.2009)
As part of the Rural Livelihood Project, the community of Berti under Trong gewog in Zhemgang started two fishery ponds with initial investments from the project. The first harvest from the ponds took place in August 2009.
The first batch of 62 kilograms of fish (average size ranged between 1.8 kilograms to 500 grams - good table size) was harvested from the two fish ponds set up in Berti with initial investments from RLP. The fish were sold at a price of 100 per kilogram by the group members (15 members). Extensionists from 5 dzongkhags also participated in the harvest which served as a practical forum to discuss fishery enterprise development issues such as record keeping (tendency to be too dependent on extension agent), net profit calculations (need to consider initial investments although it was a grant) and average growth rate of fish from a commercial point of view.
