Integrated rice and fish cultivation: DOUBLING THE FARMERS INCOME

INTRODUCTION:

Farming method by which a flooded rice field, or paddy, is used for raising both rice and fish. The rice paddies are floodedto form shallow bodies of water (10-30 cm deep) in which such warm-water fishes as domesticated and common carp canlive. The culture and capture of aquatic organisms’ fields has a long history and tradition especially in Asia, where the availability of rice and fish has been associated with prosperity and security.

Fish farming has existed since ancient times in China, Japan, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Taiwan, and the countries of South America .Designs of rice fields with fish on ancient Chinese pottery from tombs of the Han Dynasty (206 BC–225 AD), inscriptions from a thirteenth century king of Thailand, and traditional sayings, such as one from Vietnam – “rice and fish are like mother and children”.

MATERIAL AND METHOD:

In the unmanageable vast waterlogged rice environments, perennial waterlogged wet rice lands, oxbow type rice fields or flooded river basin rice fields, naturally occurring fishes and prawns enter the field during the monsoon and grow together with the rice crop. The gravid females and young fingerlings enter the field during the wet season when field water over flows and connects neighboring water sources to form a vast sheet of water under the rice canopy. The flood water carries huge and diversified community of fish, prawn, crabs and other aquatic organisms into the rice paddies. This situation is very common in the flood plain rice fields of whole of the Brahmaputra and Barack Valleys of Assam. The fishing activities there start just after arrival of the floods from late June and continue until the water recedes in November-December. In a true sense, these areas become temporary fishing grounds. The farmers and fishers use those fields as common property resources for about 5-6 months of the year using gill nets, cast nets, and various indigenous traps, either operating them in the rice-free spots or fixing the traps at appropriate water entry and exit points in the fields. In such fisheries, the average capture rate is typically around 3 kg/ha/yr 1, 2. Such practices are highly prevalent in the districts of North Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Barpeta, Nalbari, Bongaigaon, Dhubri and Kachher district of Assam and certain districts of Manipur and other Northeastern states. The deep water rice environment where such practice is most common covers more than 460,000 hectares in Assam State alone.

In Barpeta district, Assam, this is a very common system among the local tribal and fishers for collecting fish and other aquatic resources from the paddies. The yield of fish from such indigenous practice ranges from 45-280 kg/ha/season.

1: Jhingran, V.G., (1983) Fish and Fisheries in India.

Hindustan Publishing Corporation, Delhi.

2: Hora, S.L., (1951) Fish culture in rice fields. Current

Science 20(7): 171-173.

DISCUSSION:Huge potential

There exists a huge potential for integrated rice-fish farming which can generate additional net returns to the farmers along with higher crop and water productivity.

There is a need to analyse the reasons for low adoption of this technology and to formulate the management strategies. Integrated rice-fish farming results in mutual benefit to both rice and fish. Rice is benefited in the form of additional nutrients which come from fish excreta.

In addition, the aquatic weeds of rice also get reduced due to fish presence. In turn, fish gets benefit in the form of favorable micro climate due to presence of rice plants. However, rice requires a majority of nutrients in the form of inorganic fertilizers whereas fish needs nutrients in the form of organic form.

  “Fish farming in rice fields

   Has become an additional

 Source of income and

 Important economic

  Avenue...”

Status in world    

The cultivation of almost 90 percent of the world’s rice crops in irrigated, rainfed and deep-water systems equivalent to about 134 million hectares offers a suitable environment for fish and other aquatic organisms.The different integrations of rice and fish farming – either on the same plot, on adjacent plots where by-products of one system are used as inputs on the other, or consecutively – are all variations of production systems that aim to increase the productivity of water, land and associated resources while contributing to increased fish production. The integration can be more or less complete depending on the general layout of the irrigated rice plots and fishponds.

As regards the general scale of rice–fish culture, China is the main producer with an area of about 1.3 million hectares of rice fields with different forms of fish culture, which produced 1.2 million tonnes of fish and other aquatic animals in 2010. Other countries reporting their rice–fish production to FAO include Indonesia (92 000 tonnes in 2010), Egypt (29 000 tonnes in 2010), Thailand (21 000 tonnes in 2008), the Philippines (150 tonnes in 2010) and Nepal (45 tonnes in 2010). Trends observed in China show that fish production from rice fields has increased thirteen fold in the last two decades, and rice–fish culture is now one of the most important aquaculture systems in China, making a significant contribution to rural livelihoods and food security.

In the USSR this method of rice-and-fish farming is being replaced by the more effective method of rice-fish rotation, bywhich flooded rice fields that would ordinarily lie fallow are stocked with fish. Domesticated carp, grass carp, and silver carpare raised by this method. The rice paddies are fertilized and flooded to a depth of 60-70cm. The yield of fish increases,and weed contamination is diminished. The next year the rice yield of the paddies is increased.

Rice–fish farming is being tried and practiced in other countries and continents although to a lesser extent. Apart from Asia, activities have been reported from, among others, Brazil, Egypt, Guyana, Haiti, Hungary, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Italy, Madagascar, Malawi, Nigeria, Panama, Peru, Senegal, Suriname, the United States of America, Zambia, and several countries in the Central Asia and Caucasus region.

Benefits and Issues

Rice–fish farming provides additional food and income by diversifying farm activities and increasing yields of both the rice and fish crops. Evidence shows that although rice yields are similar, the integrated rice–fish system uses 68 percent less pesticide than rice monoculture. Fish feed on rice pests, thus reducing pest pressure. Together with the fact that most broadspectrum insecticides are a direct threat to aquatic organisms and healthy fish culture, knowledgeable farmers are much less motivated to spray pesticides. Therefore, it has been suggested that fish farming in rice and the integrated management of pests in rice production are complementary activities. Similarly, complementary use of nitrogen between rice and fish resulted in 24 percent less chemical fertilizer application and low nitrogen release into the environment, suggesting positive interactions in the use of resources. Fertilizers and feeds used in the integrated system are more efficiently utilized and converted into food production, and nutrient discharge to the natural environment is minimized. Rice–fish farming reduces the emission of methane by almost 30 percent compared with traditional rice farming.

CONCLUSION

An increase in integrated farming of rice and fish is possible and would benefit farmers, consumers and the environment worldwide. Several organizations, active in global policies for food production and/or environmental sustainability, have become aware of this, and key policymakers have formulated and disseminated relevant recommendations to governments, institutions and stakeholders. This is encouraging and, given the benefits of rice–fish farming, it is important to give priority to its continued promotion.