TITLE:
Improving Food Security in an Eco-Friendly Manner through Integrated Aquaculture
AUTHORS:
Olawale Ahmed Onada, Oluniyi Solomon Ogunola
KEYWORDS:
Fish Production, Agriculture-Aquaculture System, Eco-Friendly Aquaculture
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.3 No.3,
March
11,
2016
ABSTRACT: As the global population increases, demand for food, most especially
protein, will increase. The increasing production
from agriculture, including forestry and fisheries, has, however, contributed
significantly to global food security but most often at the expense of
environmental deterioration. Integrated aquaculture (IA) can guarantee and
sustain adequate food security in environmentally friendly manner. Integrated
fish farming is a diversified and coordinated way of farming with fish as the
main target along with other farm produces. The aim of integrated fish farming
is to create a mutually beneficial system that will lead to maximization of
productivity through optimum resource use. The major features of this system
include: multiple production that leads to increased productivity from the
combination of different farming system, recycling of waste or by-product in
which the waste of one system becomes the input of another system thereby reducing
the amount of waste generated and input resources, efficient utilization of
farm space for multiple production, provision of steady source of income all
year round to the farmer; this comes from various farm products. In any
integrated system, the interrelationships are many; crop byproducts are fed to
animals, while fish and animal manures are returned to the crops and fish in
the ponds. The fish may feed on insects and weed in the rice field planted
inside the pond and this in turn can increase the available nutrients to the
crop. IA has ample capacity of making more food available thus enhancing food
security. Aside from production enhancement, integrated fish farming also gives
a platform for managing environmental integrity through waste recycling and
utilization. It is important therefore to encourage farmers and other food
production sectors to engage in a production system that will ensure food
security in an eco-friendly manner.