The Role Of Fish Ponds In The Nutrient Dynamics Of Mixed Farming Systems

"Throughout the last century, specialisation and intensification were buzz words for farmers in the Western world. However, this approach has not resulted in sustainable development as evidenced by the fact that scientists now need to create technologies to reduce negative impacts. In this book we demonstrate that an alternative exists. Case studies from Bangladesh, Thailand, and Vietnam show that integration and diversification increase both farm productivity and farmers’ incomes. By adopting a participatory approach, farmers and scientists identified a range of technologies that strengthen the positive impacts of integrated aquaculture-agriculture systems for the environment. This book is a collection of refereed papers on a controversial subject in agricultural development. Arguing that sustainability of fish culture in ponds needs a new paradigm - feed the pond to grow fish - two chapters focus on nutrient cycling in such systems. Another chapter makes the case for breeding Nile tilapia for resource poor farmers and presents practical options to avoid the pitfalls that arise from natural tilapia mating in low-input ponds. The book contains chapters on livelihood and development aspects and ends with a general discussion completing the picture of the integrated aquaculture-agriculture systems. Overall it composes a review which addresses one of the key issues of the new century: how to sustainably produce food without compromising environmental integrity."

Sustainable agriculture is a rapidly growing field aiming at producing food and energy in a sustainable way for our children. This discipline addresses current issues such as climate change, increasing food and fuel prices, starvation, obesity, water pollution, soil erosion, fertility loss, pest control and biodiversity depletion. Novel solutions are proposed based on integrated knowledge from agronomy, soil science, molecular biology, chemistry, toxicology, ecology, economy, philosophy and social sciences. As actual society issues are now intertwined, sustainable agriculture will bring solutions to build a safer world. This book series analyzes current agricultural issues and proposes alternative solutions, consequently helping all scientists, decision-makers, professors, farmers and politicians wishing to build safe agriculture, energy and food systems for future generations.

Integrated farming in Asia is either considered an eco-friendly good that should be preserved for environmental reasons or a poor practice that will soon be superseded by industrial aquaculture. This report finds that most livestock-fish integration is sound business conducted by entrepreneurs accessing urban markets where the price of fish is relatively low. It can be used as part of a strategy to reduce environmental impacts of intensive livestock production and to produce low-cost food. Farmers have proved adept at both developing their systems to meet their own needs and diversifying the role of ponds, fish and livestock within their complex livelihoods.

Ponds add value to farming activities: water form pounds can serve domestic and livestock water supplies as well as irrigation for crops. Raising fish is an obvious use for a farm pound; it adds value to the water, and provides improved nutrition for farm families. This booklet provides basic and practical information on multiple-use smallholder farm pounds.

Integrated Fish Farming (IFF) is a sustainable-agriculture technology practiced widely in Asia and other regions of the world. This integrated technology can offer farmers economic improvements while lessening the adverse environmental impacts of farming. IFF systems typically involve a combination of fish polyculture, integration of agricultural production (livestock and/or crops) with aquaculture, and on-farm waste recycling. Drawing on research presented by experts from around the world at the International Workshop on Integrated Fish Farming, this book provides thorough, detailed and truly interdisciplinary coverage of one of the world's most important approaches to integrated farming systems. Integrated Fish Farming places IFF in a global context, reporting on case studies of successful IFF operations, experiments to enhance IFF performance, bioeconomic survey and modeling analyses, research on farm waste use and pond ecology, socioeconomic elements of IFF extension and adoption, and the bio-technical and economic aspects of adapting IFF to reservoirs, marshlands, rice paddies and marginal habitats.

The culmination of over a decade's worth of research by the Pond Dynamics/Aquaculture Collaborative Research Support Program (CRSP), Dynamics of Pond Aquaculture not only explains the physical, chemical, and biological processes that interact in pond culture systems, but also presents real-world research findings and considers the people who depend on these systems. This book uses data from CRSP field research sites in East Africa, Southeast Asia, Central America, and North America to present a complete picture of the pond system and the environment in which it exists. A thorough study of the principles and practices of aquaculture, the book reflects the state of the art in pond aquaculture and incorporates recent advances that have changed the science in the last decade or so. It provides a thorough review of the many methods, techniques, and ideas that comprise this complex and fascinating area of study.