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The Bangkok Post March 7 1999 Keeping the fishes in the waters Fish consumption in Asia is rising much faster than the human population. There will be a global need for about 60 million tonnes more table fish by the year 2025. Harvey Demaine Countries in which rice and fish are important traditional staple foods are referred to as rice-fish societies. Most countries have proverbs similar to the one translated from Thai: "In the waters are fish and in the field is rice." However, growing population and rapid economic, urban and industrial development are threatening wild fish stocks. This has called attention to the need for sustainable aquatic resources management and the role of aquaculture and small-scale ricefield fisheries in the livelihood of the rural poor. All the countries of the Lower Mekong Basin have policies to promote the management and development of aquatic resources to contribute to food security, to generate income for small farmers as a contribution to overcoming rural poverty, and to provide a source of foreign exchange. Fish are a major source of protein. It is a less important source than livestock because it supplies only an average of 20 percent of the total for developing countries globally. However, in many developing countries particularly in South and Southeast Asia, fish provide a higher percentage of animal protein (30-50 percent higher). A NOVEL MODEL The Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) is implementing a novel outreach programme that directly solves real-life problems in the management and development of aquatic resources in the Lower Mekong Basin through partnerships with national institutions in the area. Aqua Outreach began with a focus on small-scale aquaculture. It started as a single project in 1988 with the establishment of a field office in the Udon Thani Freshwater Fisheries Development Centre of the Thai Department of Fisheries. From the farmer's perspective, access to fish from whatever source was the key issue and that, in many areas, this was more likely to come from small-scale capture fisheries in swamps, streams and ricefields. Thus, Aqua Outreach widened its focus to address the problem of local management of aquatic resources. It is important to identify where aquaculture is an appropriate strategy. So, in addition to technology verification through field testing, the project is now heavily involved in capacity-building activities for national institutions that are engaged in aquaculture and aquatic resource development and management. Today the AIT Aqua Outreach carries out two interlinked components, field-based research and curriculum development, through a network of at least 12 organisations and institutions in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. Through them, it is engaged in field research in 24 provinces. The Department for International Development (DIFD) of the British government, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), and the Danish International Development Assistance (Danida) are the three major donor organisations. The Thai partners are the Department of Fisheries (covering six provinces in the Upper Northeast Region) and the Si Sa Ket, Udon Thani and Yasothon colleges of agricultural technology. A PHILOSOPHICAL CONCEPT The basic philosophy of Aqua Outreach is interdisciplinarity, problem-solving, improvement of the educational curricula of national institutions, and the need to favourably influence government policy. AIT's mission statement calls for "special emphasis on the interdisciplinary interface among.... technology, planning and management..." Perhaps the major constraint to the promotion of technological change management, to quote from the AIT Mission Statement, is the limited capacity of individuals and institutions in developing countries to introduce appropriate technology. The AIT Aqua Outreach addresses this by partnering national institutions in problem solving and in upgrading of educational curricula to accelerate the learning process. The most effective way to facilitate technological change is to influence government policy through in-country demonstration of effective programmes. AIT's Aqua Outreach has proceeded along a learning curve which is represented by an ever-widening concentric circles illustrating its logical expansion: starting with campus-based scientists working individually; followed, under Phase I, by teams of natural and social scientists working on field research and development problems. Then came, Phase II, during which teams of natural and social scientists assisted national institutions in capacity building for institutional development. Finally, the results of field-based research and improved curricula should lead to policy changes by national governments. These will be tackled in the project's third phase. THE IMPORTANCE OF FISH From 1961 to 1990, fish consumption in Asian developing countries doubled from five to 10 kilos per capita per year, rising much faster than the human population. Fish protein in relation to total animal protein in the diet varied little from 25% to 23% in 1961 and 1990, respectively. The diet tends to diversify with development, that is, more meat and wheat, and less fish and rice but absolute fish consumption increases also. This suggests that aquaculture can be promoted to both alleviate undernutrition and contribute to raising living standards. RURAL AQUACULTURE Urban settlements are almost as old as agriculture itself but rapid urbanisation is a recent phenomenon. The world was predominantly rural at the start of the industrial revolution 250 years ago, with about 2.5% of the world's population living in cities. By the year 2000 more than 50% of the global population will be urban. This has major irnplications for the growth of aquaculture. The promotion of rural aquaculture will need to be considered in relation to peri-urban aquaculture. Although the latter needs to be carefully defined, it may have comparative advantages in providing poor urban consumers with aquatic produce because of shorter input supply and marketing channels, and because of close proximity to domestic and agro-industrial sewage, by-products and waste which could be used as nutritional inputs. CAPTURE FISHERIES? The need for aquaculture to provide increased supplies of fish should be considered in relation to capture fisheries. These currently dominate production but are threatened by human population growth through overfishing and environmental degradation. The stimulus and need for aquaculture are greatest in developing countries where at least 90% of the global increase in population is predicted to take place before the world population stabilises at a level at least double that of today. There will be a global need for about 60 million tonnes more table fish by the year 2025, assuming no significant increases in capture of wild fish, a median UN projection of population growth, and today's average global fish consumption of 13.5 kg/capita/year. This means that by 2025 aquaculture should produce three times more than today. However, it does not consider that people may consume considerably more fish to alleviate undernutrition. If a higher annual per capita fish consumption of 20-30 kg were targeted to take into consideration those societies in which fish is an important diet component, then aquaculture-in global terms-would need to increase considerably more, possibly five to six times more than the current level. THERE'S MONEY IN FISH Most small-scale farmers focus first on subsistence but the interest shifts to income generation once confidence in the technology is gained. Traditional aquaculture systems probably functioned mainly to supply household needs. But with the rapid expansion of the market economy even in remote areas, farmers are likely to be motivated as much by income generating opportunities for improved domestic food supply. Recent entrants to aquaculture in Svay Rieng province in Cambodia sold fish raised in their ponds and purchased cheaper wild fish from local markets. Nevertheless, it is instructive to consider how much fish in required to satisfy household fish consumption needs for a non-vegetarian fish-eating household. A range of about 100-250 kg of fish would be required to satisfy the household consumption needs of a fairly typical household of five persons. Considerably increased levels of household production are required before aquaculture can contribute significantly to household income. POVERTY ALLEVIATION Aquaculture is an important contributor to the alleviation of rural poverty, particularly in Asia where wild fish is a traditional dietary staple in many countries For many rural development specialists, satisfaction of basic needs is the starting point for rural development while basic food security is a prime need. Moreover, in Asia, fish is seen as relatively high-value produce which offers an opportunity for agricultural diversification and improved earnings for small-scale farmers, where self-sufficiency in cereals has already been achieved but where small landholdings mean that rice is unable to offer a prosperous future. However, the generally poor results of the promotion of aquaculture in Africa and Latin America to alleviate poverty, and the better rate of success with more intensive systems of production by richer farmers, have cast doubts on the ability of aquaculture to fulfil expectations. Aquaculture is rarely appropriate even as a supplementary occupation for the rural poor particularly the landless. Where fish is a traditional part of the diet and alternative income sources are unavailable, resource-poor farmers have shown interest and ability to culture fish using low cost inputs, e.g. Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. It is a false dichotomy to believe that aquaculture appropriate only for the rich, but not the poor rural farming households. The evidence indicates that aquaculture has relevance for both groups of farmers but that the appropriate technology, methods to assess its role, and methods to promote it depend on the target group. * Dr Harvey Demaine is an Associate Research Professor at the Asian Institute of Technology and Coordinator of its Aqua Outreach. © Copyright The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd. 1998 Comments to: Webmaster |
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