Bhundi feeding grass carp with grass.

Bhundi Chaudary is a 40-year-old female farmer from Chitwan district in Nepal who is a member of Sundardeep, a women’s fish farming cooperative. Sundardeep is an active, united and female only organization working for the indigenous Tharu community in Chitwan. The cooperative was registered in 2012, and the core expertise include agriculture and fish farming.

Before joining Sundardeep, Bhundi found it difficult to meet the basic needs of her family with the income that she received from farming. Sundardeep supported Bhundi to construct a fishpond at the back of her farm and provided her various species of fish fingerlings for the pond. After adopting fish farming, Bhundi’s income has increased, and she now earns 80,000 NPR (about 615 EUR) - 90,000 NPR (692 EUR) annually through fish farming which has now become the main source of her family’s income. The additional income covers the school fees of Bhundi’s children as well as other family expenses. Bhundi also mentioned that she has gained more confidence after being involved in Sundardeep’s activities as they provide exposure and opportunities to deal with people from various and diverse backgrounds. By being a member of Sundardeep, Bhundi has achieved much personal growth and fish farming has tremendously improved the livelihood of Bhundi’s family.

The project: ‘Women for Entrepreneurship and Resilience - transforming fish-farming and forest value-chains in Nepal’ is funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland from 2021-2024