Integrating fish into irrigation infrastructure projects in Myanmar: rice-fish what if…?

Abstract

With rapidly increasing investment in water control infrastructure (WCI) and a recently ratified agriculture development strategy that promotes integrated farming of high-value products such as fish, agricultural production, already fundamental to Myanmar’s economy, will be central to driving the countries’ socioeconomic transformation. Water planners and managers have a unique opportunity to design and manage WCI to incorporate fish and, in so doing, reduce conflicts and optimise the benefits to both people and the ecosystem services upon which they depend. Results from rice–fish culture experimental trials in Myanmar’s Ayeyarwady Delta are providing an evidence base for the importance of integrating fish into WCI, highlighting a range of both environmental and social benefits. By using less than 13% of paddy land area and through best management practices, existing rice productivity is sustained, alongside a 25% increase in economic returns for the same land area from fish. In addition, there are considerably more protein and micronutrients available from the fish produced in the system. Should these farming system innovations be adopted at scale, Myanmar stands to benefit from increased employment, incomes and nutritional value of farm plots (alongside associated reductions in pesticide pollution) and water use benefits.1

Maintaining Diversity of Integrated Rice and Fish Production Confers Adaptability of Food Systems to Global Change

“…Myanmar is showing signs of shifting from a monoculture focus to diversified production. Recent on-farm piloting of concurrent rice-fish culture showed positive benefits for rice yield, agrochemical reduction, and mean gross margin (which was 25% greater than that of rice monoculture; Dubois et al, 2019). These results highlight the improved resource efficiency and potential economic benefits of adopting concurrent ricefish culture in the Ayeyarwady Delta without compromising rice production.…”

“…For example, RFPPs can make efficient use of scarce water and land resources (Frei and Becker, 2005), maintain biodiversity (Liu et al, 2013;Freed et al, 2020), regulate water flows and water quality (Zhang et al, 2012), and reduce the need for agrochemicals for rice production (Halwart, 1994;Cheng-Fang et al, 2008;Xie et al, 2011). RFPPs can also provide local food and nutrition security (Garaway et al, 2013;Halwart, 2013), income benefits (Hortle et al, 2008), generate more revenue per hectare than rice monoculture (Dwiyana and Mendoza, 2006), and produce higher rice yields (Halwart and Gupta, 2004;Dubois et al, 2019), although rice monoculture can be more cost and labor efficient (Dwiyana and Mendoza, 2006) and in some contexts, the economic return from fish replacing a rice crop in a rotational system can be lower than the return from the second rice crop (Ahmed et al, 2011). RFPPs are not the only agroecological alternatives to rice monoculture: ecologically engineered farm design can enhance biodiversity and ecosystem function (Horgan et al, 2016); and alternate wetting and drying can reduce water and input use in irrigated systems (Tirol-Padre et al, 2018).…”

Speaking the same language: can the sustainable development goals translate the needs of inland fisheries into irrigation decisions?

“…These can be important areas for fisheries productivity and are exploited by locals dependent upon fish. In South-east Asia, the creation of rice paddies can also be an important source of fisheries and OAA productivity (Meusch et al 2003;Halwart 2006), which can increase fish yields without compromising rice production (Dubois et al 2019). However, it is important to ensure that these fisheries are managed sustainably to ensure access for those dependent upon them and that they are considered as important components of ending poverty and hunger alongside irrigation and cropping.…”

Rethinking irrigation modernisation: realising multiple objectives through the integration of fisheries

“…As a result, trade-offs between irrigation and fisheries are not fully understood, adverse effects on fisheries are rarely sufficiently mitigated and opportunities for more effective and productive irrigation management are, disappointingly, overlooked. In some places, for example Myanmar, the introduction of aquaculture into irrigation systems and promotion of rice-fish systems is difficult because of prohibitive legislation (Dubois et al 2019).…”