Integrated farming encourages farmers for manifold use of available resources to get higher benefits. Aquaculture is increasingly becoming an important income generating activity by the farm households who cultivate rice. The farm households in Bangladesh have huge demand for quality fingerlings to culture in their seasonal ponds, in rice fields as well as in low-land water bodies.
Fish seed is the most critical input for aquaculture, yet the geographically clustered nature of hatchery and nursery operations in Bangladesh restricts its easy availability, and as a result, few powerful individuals maintain a monopoly over the supply chain. At the community level, decentralised fish seed production may be able to make quality fingerlings available across the country.
The main opportunity of this pattern of farming is to spread a proven way of producing fish seed in rice fields and bring fish farming within the reach of the poor. Producers and traders will thus be less dependent on central hatcheries for fish seed. Poor fish farmers will get access to resources, increase income from production and this will thereby lead to their overall livelihood improvement. The most important result of this method is to benefit the rice-field based fingerlings producers, besides improving the value chain for fish seed supply.
Decentralised fish seed production technology is very simple. During February, farmers stock tilapia fish and common carp eggs in small ditches located in suitable corners of irrigated rice fields. Fish seed production peaks during May and June. The fingerlings are harvested by drawing down water levels to concentrate them in the ditch where they can be retained and netted prior to sale or restocking in household ponds. Little or no additional irrigation or supplementary feed is required, and the fingerlings are ready for sale at the time of peak demand among pond farmers. Fish seed production in this manner is healthy and more resistant than that of the hatcheries, and is less vulnerable to physical damage due to long distance transporting.
Each farmer can produce an average of 5 thousand fingerlings, the sale value of which is Tk. 5,000. Besides, each household can consume fish according to its needs. An experiment regarding rice-fish culture shows that the current fish deficit in Bangladesh (250,000 tons) can be reduced significantly by promoting this technology. It has been found that a total of 2.83 million hectares of land is suitable for integrated rice-fish cultivation in Bangladesh. If these lands are brought under rice-fish cultivation, about 0.1 million tons of fish can be added to national fish production annually. To make integrated rice-fish technique efficient, important input like fingerlings can also be made available (about 15,000 million) using 0.3 million hectare of rice field. Besides, around a total of 0.3 million poor households can earn their livelihood from this.
The culture of fish farming in rice fields can greatly improve the productivity of low-income rice farmers. The technique of combining fish culture with rice cultivation offers higher production compared to traditional rice farming alone. Integrated rice-fish culture is thus a feasible and efficient way to improve the use of agricultural resources. Rice-fish culture provides economic, social and ecological benefits. It improves soil fertility, reduces damage from weeds and insects and thereby cuts on costs for pesticides and chemical fertilisers.
To achieve high yields, it is important to choose the appropriate fish species and use the proper stocking density and size. Sharputi, tilapia and common Carp are the ideal species for rice-fish culture. The economic benefit of rice growing alone is not as high as fish culture. At present, the unit yield of rice is stable. Improved benefits and production value can be achieved by rearing fish in rice fields. Fish brings positive changes in rice cultivation and helps achieve remarkable economic benefit.
A CASE STUDY OF KALPONA RANI: Kalpona Rani (46) of Subarbari village of Panchagram Union under Lalmonirhat Sadar Upazilla in Lalmonirhat district is a marginal farmer owning 50 decimal cultivable lands, which is too small even to run a small family. She had plans to produce fish in her rice field. But lack of knowledge and fund deterred her in executing her plans. She was keen to learn integrated rice-fish cultivation technique for better income. She soon learnt the technique from a NGO named RDRS, through a project supported by World Fish Centre. She received training on rice-fish culture and after completion of her training, she prepared the land for fish culture along with rice cultivation. She also raised dykes around the plot and made a small ditch in one corner of the land covering 2 decimals of land. She stocked 3,000 fingerlings of sarputi in the 50 decimal of rice field. She invested Tk. 1,500 for fish production and got a net profit of around Tk. 5,000 from selling around 100 kg table fish. With the inspiration of this profit, she again stocked 300 gram carp spawn in the same land. She used oil cake and rice bran as feed for better growth. She invested Tk.500 for fingerling production and made a net profit around Tk. 5,000 from selling 50 kg fingerlings.
Kalpona Rani was making higher profit from the rice-cum-fish culture than the rice monoculture. For getting quality organic fertiliser, she established a compost pit in her homestead space. For drinking safe water, she installed a tube well from the profit of the project. She also established a hygienic sanitary latrine to reduce water borne diseases. She met the expenses of her daughter's marriage from the profit of the project. Now Kalpona's husband assists her more in the rice-fish project as its turnover has been gradually improving their livelihood.
Dr. M. G. Neogi is Consultant International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Bangladesh. mgneogi@gmail.com
Integrated rice-fish farming at farm household level
M. G. Neogi | Published: December 26, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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