Our Solution
The challenges to fish farmers and producers’ organisations are many and interconnected. Considering the range of interconnected issue, Jaljeevika has developed an integrated model AQUA+ to leverage the power of technically competent community cadre as an extension agent and set up self-governed producers organisations to establish blue economy across the value chain. Once a cycle of interventions is completed, program implementation is handed over to producers organisation. Afterwards, the role of Jaljeevika gets transformed as incubation agency to support them in the execution of a business plan.
Fish is the most important source of animal protein in India. But per capita, fish consumption in India is just 6.6 kg, compared to the global average of over 20.4 kg. Fish is rich in micronutrients like vitamin A, iron, and zinc. Along with ensuring food and nutrition security, also enable in livelihoods generation without creating adverse socio-economic and environmental impacts.
The AquaLab initiative is to promote and facilitate the contribution that fisheries and aquaculture sector makes to poverty reduction, sustainable economic growth‚ better nutrition and economic opportunities in rural India.
As a flagship program, AquaLab initiatives comprise of Community based intervention to build knowledge, organise a training program for fish farmers, promote collective action, insist on integrated farming models, and facilitate convergence models to ensure support from a government department.
Our Impact
There is a huge untapped potential in fisheries and aquaculture, which can contribute considerably to improve the livelihoods as also women empowerment. The future of aquaculture sector depends on the adoption of new and innovative technologies, management and utilization of less utilized water resources and proper market tie-ups by fish farmers collective. Capture fisheries offer a major opportunity to enhance fish production in India. Governance functions in fisheries collective and aquaculture have been weak, and this has resulted in poor management of resources, loss of economic opportunities.
There is a substantial opportunity to improve livelihoods of fishers by capitalising the economic benefits of capture fisheries and ensure livelihood security for millions of people. Poor governance of fisheries collective also results in handing over market opportunities to external middlemen and poverty in fishery-dependent communities. Improved governance can result in better resource management, productivity enhancement, sustainable improvements in ecosystems and economies.
AquaFPO initiative seeks to accomplish this mission by:
- Enhancing good governance practices, Institutional ownership of process and resources and establishing a democratic value system in collectives.
- Engaging collectives with social development and empowerment process through addressing the local social issue
- Enhancing business acumen, cluster development plan, business plan development for collectives and later ensuring access to resources through convergence model or investment by financial institutions.
Our Impact
Women’s engagement in the fisheries sector has been never accounted for. in the traditional production system, women are engaged in all manual activities and as a vendor, except as a harvester. Engaging women to secure and enhance the contribution of small-scale fisheries is a way forward to ensure food security and poverty reduction. Across fisheries value chains, we emphasize livelihood opportunities for women in fish seed production, non-farm activities, management and decision making and trade. In Maharashtra, we have successfully inducted more than 4000 women to adopt fisheries based livelihood.
Our Impact
Aquaculture is a new and rapidly growing fish supply source‚ offering a range of important economic opportunities. Fish and fish products have emerged as the largest commodity segment in agricultural exports in India. Fisheries sector export portfolio contributes more than 13 lakh tonnes of quantity and more than Rs. 45,000 Crore in value. Apart from export earning, there is huge untapped potential to promote market-driven intervention across the value chain like feed, seed, supply chain and processing for domestic consumption. Skill-building of youth is a potential opportunity to enhance employment opportunities and entrepreneurship across aquaculture and fisheries value chains.
Installation of new and affordable technologies, developing business acumen, market intelligence, linking farmers with service providers, innovation in product ranges and demonstration of high-end technologies like Recirculatory aquaculture system, Bioflock, Aquaponics, cold chain system and small scale processing technologies etc will help in developing multiple enterprises across rural India.
Our Impact
"Our solution to Impact Scale"
Jaljeevika is working in collaboration with Microsoft for Startup and Tech for good initiatives- J P Morgan & Chase to provide timely support to fish farmers across the value chain with the integration of IT-enabled support mechanism. This work is in progress with substantial traction from the field in collaboration with farmers producer organisation, micro-entrepreneurs and market agency.
This platform will provide location-specific advisory support, market intelligence, IVR based support services for small farmers and link them to various support agency like a bank, a government program, insurance agency for better integration. We are going to launch soon our IT-based support services for fish farmers to help them in enhancing production, productivity and market linkages.
The Solution we are working on
AquaIT is a producer-market centric digital platform, to facilitate systemic change solution, suggests a potential integration, convergence with various service providers. In coming days, this system will facilitate to create producer centric eco-labelling protocol to improve their enterprises, market traction and quality control.
- Location-specific best practice guidelines, knowledge, Solution
- Market intelligence and linkages
- Curated advisory support based on adopted process, data analytics, sensor data
- Convergence and linkages with service providers, support, existing infrastructure.
- Quality, Traceability and ecolabelling protocol
Jaljeevika Approch Toward sustainable Development Goal
Responsible consumption and production. Addressing issues of waste management through better utilization and reductions in post-harvest losses.
Climate action. Inland fisheries have low carbon footprint in comparison with other food sources
Life below water, has clear connections to the fisheries and aquaculture sectors.
Life on land. Freshwater ecosystems, of which inland fisheries are very much a part are a rich source of biodiversity
Eradication of poverty. Responsible fisheries and fisheries value chains support the livelihoods of the poor and the vulnerable with inclusive access to fisheries and related economic resources.
Zero hunger. In terms of food utilization, the benefits of fish in the human diet are well established.
Gender equality. Fisheries empower women and contribute to gender equity; however, their role has largely been unrecognized.
Decent work and economic growth. The capture fisheries and aquaculture primary sector provided work for more than 14 million people in India.
