Aquaculture: benefiting rural and urban people

The global aquaculture industry is growing by ten percent each year - quicker than any other food sector. The most impressive changes are found around the cities of developing countries, particularly south and southeast Asia.

The demand for fresh fish and aquatic foods (animal and vegetable) has increased over the last few decades as cities have grown and people have moved from rural areas, particularly in developing countries.

Recent studies, by the Aquaculture and Fish Genetics Research Programme, UK, the Production in Aquatic Peri-Urban Systems in Southeast Asia organisation and the UK Natural Resources Systems Programme, show that this increasing urban demand stimulates nearby aquaculture, even where fishing is common nearby.

Aquaculture can be successful in both rural and peri-urban areas, if water supplies are available. Good market access and infrastructure also stimulate growth. For example, increasing demand in Hanoi, Viet Nam, has driven the recent growth in carp production in Hai Duong, which has good access to Hanoi. The relatively low labour demands of aquaculture mean it can be a profitable part of diverse income-generating activities in both rural and urbanising areas.

Poor people benefit from aquaculture in several ways:

• Increasingly denied access to wild stocks, many poor people rely on markets for food. Small fish from aquaculture farms provide cheap food.
• Expanding aquaculture increases opportunities for employment, ranging from seed and input supply to processing and marketing.
• There is evidence in some places (such as Bangladesh) that poor people are setting up their own aquaculture farms, as the costs can be low.

As the links between urban and rural areas improve, changing work opportunities can also increase poor people's access to land, through leasing and sharecropping arrangements. For example, the most profitable enterprises in West Bengal, India, are not owner-managed systems but leased ponds used to nurse young fish.

Most semi-intensive aquaculture has no environmental impacts, and can even be positive. For example, aquatic vegetables remove nutrients and improve water quality. Little or no water exchange occurs in culture ponds and they act as storage reservoirs. This is particularly important in areas without enough water, and where poor people are disproportionately vulnerable to seasonal water availability.

The future of aquaculture

Improving export opportunities and economic growth encourage the intensification of aquaculture. However, this may negatively affect poverty reduction and cause environmental damage (for example the rapid growth in production and subsequent decline of black tiger shrimp in south and southeast Asia).

The rapid growth of aquaculture should not necessarily be slowed, but policymakers must understand and support different options to realise the potential of this industry. In particular, governments, aid organisations and the aquaculture industry should:

• consider the role of aquaculture in peri-urban as well as rural areas
• promote a balance between export earning and supporting domestic consumption
• consider zoning and promoting aquaculture clusters that permit nutrient recycling and pollution control n

David C. Little
Institute of Aquaculture, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, UK
d.c.little@stir.ac.uk
T +44 (0)1786 467923
F +44 (0)1786 472133

See also

Aquaculture and Fish Genetics Research Programme (AFGRP)
www.dfid.stir.ac.uk/Afgrp

Production in Aquatic Peri-Urban Systems in Southeast Asia (PAPUSSA)
www.papussa.org

Land-water interface production systems in peri-urban Kolkata project, Natural Resources Systems Programme
www.dfid.stir.ac.uk/dfid/nrsp/kolkata.htm

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