Are provisioning ecosystem services from rural aquaculture contributing to reduce hunger in Africa?

Villasante, Sebastián; Rodriguez, Susana Rivero; Molares, Yolanda; Martı́nez, Mercedes; Remiro, Javier; García-Díez, Cristina; Lahoz, Carmen Muñoz; Omar, Isabel; Bechardas, Margarida; Elago, Panduleni Ndinelago; Ekandjo, Mikael; Saisai, Maiba; Awity, L.

doi:10.1016/j.ecoser.2015.07.003

Cited by 19 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Avoiding risks is expected given that in general poor people have not had a chance to secure their futures, through investments, for example, due to more urgent needs in the present (Banerjee & Duflo, ; Wood, ). This is consistent with empirical evidence obtained in poor countries where people, in particular women, develop local capacities to endure long months of droughts without fish to feed their families (Villasante et al., ). Therefore, even though the poor are the ones most in need, they are unable to undertake novel, but risky initiatives that could lift them out of the poverty trap, unless such risks are supported by external institutions, such as the government.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 91%

Fisheries or aquaculture? Unravelling key determinants of livelihoods in the Brazilian semi-arid region

et al. 2017

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In impoverished semi-arid regions in the world, reservoirs serve multiple purposes, including food provision through fisheries and aquaculture. Yet, the socio-economic benefits of promoting both activities remain unclear. We independently assessed the socio-economic benefits generated from fisheries and aquaculture, in two reservoirs in the Brazilian semi-arid region (June 2013 to June 2014). These reservoirs produced 27.75 ton of farmed tilapia over a year (USD Purchasing Power Parities[PPP] 88,778.73) and provided at least 16.5 ton of fish through fisheries (USD PPP 37,557.81), based on data from four farmer associations. Our input-output model revealed that the local economy depends on both activities, which, therefore, contribute similarly to providing goods and services to different branches. Aquaculture generated much higher revenues (seven times) than fisheries, but also much higher losses (the most successful farm yielded an average income of USD PPP 592.41 monthly). Still, there were no statistical differences in income among the compared associations. Fisheries provided very but guaranteed income (USD PPP 311.02 AE 82.94) and employed over three times as many people and contributed much more (>3 times) to food security than aquaculture. Encouraging aquaculture through specific policies while overlooking fisheries is not advisable because poor fishers would not be able to deal with unpredictable outcomes and it would put their food security at risk. However, if initial external support is provided to fishers in order to buffer large losses, aquaculture could represent a way out of poverty by generating an opportunity for larger gains, as long as potential negative ecological impacts of aquaculture are accounted for.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 91%

Fisheries or aquaculture? Unravelling key determinants of livelihoods in the Brazilian semi-arid region

et al. 2017

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“…Aquaculture adoption can have various positive impacts at different levels from farm and household to community and national levels, by contributing to food and nutrition status to people (Filipski & Belton, 2018;Vilasante et al, 2015). It also helps to improve the purchasing power due to income generation from selling fish and create employment opportunities, which in turn significantly influence food demands and consumption (Belton & Little, 2011;Kassam & Dorward, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rural aquaculture: Assessment of its contribution to household income and farmers’ perception in selected districts, Tanzania

Mulokozi

Mmanda

Onyango

et al. 2020

Aquaculture Economics & Management

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Rural fish farming is being promoted as a good source of protein and income diversification to fight poverty and inequality. However, its actual contribution to these rural households and local community at large is little known. Through interviews with 89 farmers' and 6 key informants, we examined the contribution of rural fish farming to local farmers' household income and investigate farmers' perceptions, opportunities, and constraints towards fish farming in six districts of Tanzania. Results indicated that fish farming contributed on average 13% to household incomes and that it explained 5% of the variation of the household income while 84% of the variation was due to non-fish sources. The majority (79%) of the farmers wanted to continue with fish farming, 9% planned to quit, and 12% had not decided whether to continue or not. Conclusively, much higher aquaculture contribution towards rural development could be obtained if appropriate measures are taken.

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“…These findings contradict the dominant narratives about the benefits of small-scale aquaculture for rural livelihoods. The differing results may be because most empirical evidence that supports these narratives stems from research in Asia and Africa, where small-scale aquaculture has contributed significantly to rural food security and income security [14,[16][17][18][40][41][42][43][44][45][46]. We argue that the limited contribution of tilapia aquaculture to food and income security in Solomon Islands may result from two contextual aspects.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For most poor farmers with limited livelihood activities, SSA is often a main livelihood activity, while for others it can be one of a diverse portfolio of livelihood activities [11]. A substantial number of studies have demonstrated the positive contributions of SSA to livelihoods of the poor in developing contexts see [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Limits of Tilapia Aquaculture for Rural Livelihoods in Solomon Islands

et al. 2020

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Increasing pressure on coastal fisheries poses serious threats to local livelihoods and the food security of Pacific Islanders. In response, governments and development agencies have explored tilapia pond aquaculture as an alternative fish production source. Yet, evidence to date on the impact of tilapia aquaculture on rural livelihoods has been inconclusive. Drawing on the sustainable livelihood framework, we analysed the contribution of Mozambique tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus) aquaculture to the livelihood assets and outcomes of 40 rural farmers in Solomon Islands. First, results showed that 53% of tilapia farmers were satisfied with tilapia aquaculture’s contribution to their human and social assets, while only 28% and 13% were satisfied with its contribution to their physical and financial assets, respectively. Tilapia aquaculture’s contribution to farmers’ natural assets was also limited. Second, and most importantly, there was an insignificant contribution of tilapia aquaculture to food and income security. Our results demonstrate that tilapia farmers rarely consumed tilapia, with only two of the 40 households having consumed tilapia in the seven days prior the interview. Moreover, only eight tilapia farmers sold their tilapia, which contributed 0.002–0.5% of their total weekly revenue. We argue the limited contribution of tilapia aquaculture to food and income stems from the low productivity of the available tilapia species and the low local demand for tilapia at rural markets. Given the current context of declining coastal fisheries and food insecurity concerns in rural Pacific Islands, it is unlikely that the current form of Mozambique tilapia aquaculture will be able to achieve its objective of addressing food and income security as a complement to coastal fisheries.

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Are provisioning ecosystem services from rural aquaculture contributing to reduce hunger in Africa?

Cited by 19 publications

References 14 publications

Fisheries or aquaculture? Unravelling key determinants of livelihoods in the Brazilian semi-arid region

Fisheries or aquaculture? Unravelling key determinants of livelihoods in the Brazilian semi-arid region

Rural aquaculture: Assessment of its contribution to household income and farmers’ perception in selected districts, Tanzania

Limits of Tilapia Aquaculture for Rural Livelihoods in Solomon Islands

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