Improving Food Security in an Eco-Friendly Manner through Integrated Aquaculture

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.