Integrated agriculture-aquaculture as an alternative to improving small-scale fish production in Zambia

Abstract

Aquaculture is a significant industry in food production, and its contribution to food and nutrition security is well acknowledged. Zambia’s aquaculture production has continued to increase significantly, thus playing a key role in supplying animal protein sources for human consumption. However, recent estimates show that 75% of the national aquaculture production comes from large-scale commercial producers despite being by far the minority while the majority of small-scale producers contribute the remaining 25% of the total annual production. This low production by small-scale producers is attributed to insufficient financial resources, poor management and utilization of farm resources, lack of access to competitive markets, and more recently a changing climate. In this research, we examine the viability of integrated agriculture-aquaculture (IAA) as a means for small-scale producers in Zambia to boost their aquaculture output despite the numerous obstacles they face. In addition, the obstacles that could prevent small-scale farmers from adopting IAA have been emphasized. We conclude that IAA has the potential to dramatically boost small-scale aquaculture production in Zambia, but information and understanding must be improved to make it a more feasible alternative.

Sustainability in agricultural production and natural resource management T-I Biotechnology and Agricultural Sciences

“…Only about 20-40% of the nitrogen and less than 50% of the calories consumed are retained by the farmed species (Correia et al, 2020;Peres and Oliva-Teles, 2005;Teles et al, 2020). The generation of waste represents one of the main problems that cause uncertainty and consumer rejection of aquaculture production (Hasimuna et al, 2023). There are various proposals to reduce nutrient accumulation, including integrated production in its various forms.…”

“…There are various proposals to reduce nutrient accumulation, including integrated production in its various forms. These include agro-aquaculture systems, crop-livestock-fish farming systems and multi-trophic or polyculture systems (Buck et al, 2018;Hasimuna et al, 2023;Thomas et al, 2021;Waktola et al, 2016).…”

“…These systems can be configured in different ways: aquafeed grown in combination with plants, livestock or other animals in the same production system, or the independent cultivation of each system within the same farm, using waste from one as input for the other. This provides a portion of the requirements for quality food production at low cost, in addition to generating employment and a source of household income (Hasimuna et al, 2023). This production model allows smallholders to generate steady income from different production systems within their farm (Hasimuna et al, 2023).…”

“…In general, aquaculture production is concentrated among a small number of large producers, who account for more than 70% of production, while small producers cover less than 30% (Hasimuna et al, 2023). This disparity is attributed to lack of financial resources among small-scale producers, as well as poor technology implementation, poor management of material resources, limited access to adequate markets and the effects of climate change (Hasimuna et al, 2023;Maulu et al, 2021;Ortega-Mejía et al, 2023).…”

“…Despite increasing demand, aquaculture production is often perceived negatively by society (Correia et al, 2020), which hinders the implementation of sustainable production systems. Therefore, it is essential to address the main problems associated with aquaculture, which have been identified in previous studies (Correia et al, 2020;Hasimuna et al, 2023;Mangano et al, 2019;Ortega-Mejía et al, 2023;van Osch et al, 2017):…”