Why NutriFish1000?
For much of the past fifty years, scientists have studied a class of highly micronutrient-rich small indigenous species of fish. They are approximately 6-10 centimeters at full maturity with some even smaller, and are abundant in both freshwater and marine environments.
Found across South Asia and Africa’s wetlands, rivers, lakes and streams and across our global ocean, these “NutriFish” contain micronutrients – essential vitamins and minerals – fatty acids and macronutrients such as protein missing in the diets of malnourished pregnant and lactating women and their stunted, wasted and hungry children living in poverty.
Public health science has proven that if expectant mothers and child are provided with essential (and currently missing) micronutrients from conception to at least the child's second birthday
(approximately 1,000 days), the probability of lifelong stunting declines sharply.
Economic science has proven that a child’s lifetime wealth trajectory sharply increases when properly nourished over the first one thousand days of life due to health and cognition, improved educational outcomes and livelihoods. And, this has a direct impact on a nation’s wealth – a bump of approximately 3 to 11 percent of GDP depending on the country.
We aggregated over fifty years of research, including randomized controlled trials, field trials, demonstrations and pilots which suggest the efficacy of improved nutritional outcomes to both women and children during the critical first 1,000 days from consumption of these NutriFish.
We have proven that some NutriFish can be farmed locally by women, including in polyculture systems with rice (among the most abundant staple foods) and carp (the most abundant fish farmed across South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa). In fact, adding NutriFish to existing carp ponds increases carp yields with no additional input in addition to providing a new nutritious and diverse food to family plates.
This solution can scale globally and rapidly with sustainability and increased productivity as a safe, reliable, diverse and nutritious food without having to increase the land or water cultivation area footprint. Access to knowledge is a constraint.
NutriFish are also the most climate-smart animal source protein on the planet per kilogram.
NutriFish1000 empowers poor, rural women where they live with culturally acceptable livelihood and safe, reliable, diverse and nutritious food for them and their families. Our replicable, scalable, local and place-based solutions boost both health from nutrition and lifetime wealth for poor families, transforming their lives from the inside out and improving their lives for good.