April 19, 2007

Scientist encourage rainbow trout farming in Nepal

With a regular and abundant flow of cold water, Nepal is an ideal place to farm rainbow trout, Ganesh Shakya from the Agro Enterprise centre wrote in an editorial for the centre.

After previous failures to introduce the fish to Nepal in the 1960s and 1970s from abroad, the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) believes it has developed the breeding and culture technology for this species.

Since then, the farming of rainbow trout has then been initiated through the involvement of public and private sectors.

Rainbow Trout is a carnivorous species that requires a steady protein diet and well oxygenated water.

The fish could be cultured using artificial feeding of not less than 20 to 30 percent of animal protein. Depending on quality of the diet and temperature, Rainbow trout takes 12-14 months to reach marketable size (200-300g) from free-swimming larvae.

Nepal, being a mountainous country, can supply the natural resources such as spring water and river (glacier and snow melt) water for trout culture, he wrote.

The country's technical background gained in the NARC and Fisheries Research Centre would come in handy when developing Trout culture, Shakya wrote.

Furthermore, a preliminary analysis carried out revealed that trout farming in Nepal is economically viable, giving a 19.5 percent rate of return on initial cost.

At present, there are 12 trout farmers in the private sector in Nepal who produce trout in their own ponds to sell to supermarkets in Kathmandu.