Increasing the Water to Food Conversion Rate in Tropical Floodplains The world’s tropical floodplains are important culture project and teams of national researchers resources that could be tapped for fish worked together to implement a project on production to provide a rich protein source enhancing community-based fish production in the for communities. However, many of the strategies floodplains of Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Mali to increase food output from the world’s tropical and Vietnam. floodplains have been limited to agricultural crop cultivation and have not fully taken advantage The project aimed to scale out a successful model of integrating fish culture and other aquatic of floodplain aquaculture, developed through resources,that will also increase the rate of water- three decades of research on community-based food conversion. fisheries management and floodplain aquaculture in Bangladesh. It disseminated the model to other The CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and areas in Bangladesh and to four other countries Food (CPWF), through the community-based fish that also have extensive floodplain resources. It also 125 developed appropriate technical and institutional options for the integration of community-based fish production into existing floodplain and irrigation systems. The project identified the most appropriate models of collective action for aquaculture under different socioecological contexts and assessed the value of these approaches to the sustainable development of floodplain resources and irrigation systems. The project has led to a range of outcomes and variable successes in each of the project countries, delivering different levels of benefits both within and between countries. Negotiating access and managing institutions and benefit—sharing arrangements within a system where rights are dynamic, have created particular challenges to the implementation of the project. As a result, only sites in Bangladesh and China generated data over the many fish culture cycles. Substantial improvements in resource governance were, however, seen in Mali, where the intervention showed strong potential for uptake and dissemination. Comparison of floodplain fishery The Water to Food conversion rate could increase if the world’s tropical floodplains are development in five tapped by integrating community-based fish culture with agricultural crop production. countries The dissemination of the community-based fish culture (CBFC) model developed in Bangladesh to other countries in Asia and Africa is an important contribution to a suite of aquaculture technologies currently available to rural households across the world. Testing the CBFC model in a range of environmental, social and economic contexts has provided important insights into the conditions that support CBFC and where such an intervention is both appropriate and likely to generate benefits for rural communities (see Table 1) 126 Addressing Water, Food and Poverty Problems Comparison of Floodplain Fisheries in Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cambodia, China and Mali. Country/ Methods and Ownership of Fish Production and Description Approaches Technical Design Floodplains and Beneficiaries Benefit Sharing BANGLADESH CBFC was Floodplain Culture sites were Floodplains were Fish production and benefit developed in management delineated by flood completely under sharing varied among sites, Bangladesh. committees (FMC) control dikes. Bamboo private ownership depending on land tenure Although were established fencing was installed at and had the arrangements associated with significantly to represent water inlets and outlets landless, fishers the water body. Where public helping floodplain stakeholder groups to permit entry of wild and landowners as land was leased by a fishers’ communities, CBFC and make decisions fish fry and prevent the beneficiaries. For society, fishers received a larger is said to exclude on fish culture escape of stocked fish. publicly owned share of the net benefits than large numbers of activities. Project Concrete ring culverts floodplains under those on privately owned sites. poor people who implementation were introduced in lease agreement, Benefits also depended on are marginalized committees (PIC) Kalmina Beel and fishers' groups investments made in the lease. when benefits are were tasked with water regulation using were mostly the At all sites, the share included captured by the advising the FMCs sluice gates in Beel beneficiaries. Others a revolving fund with one site local elite. and coordinating Mail increased water were fisher-lessees achieving financial autonomy. project activities in retention following and landowner- In some sites, the landless CBFC. flood recession. investors. either received 5% of the total benefit or were only allowed to catch self-recruited species. VIETNAM Floodplain In all three sites, land Culture sites were delin- CBFC in Vietnam When the water level became aquaculture in ownership within eated by dikes. Fencing limited membership low enough to make the Vietnam has not the culture site was to define the culture to households who boundaries of individual rice shown significant a pre-requisite for area was introduced owned land within fields visible, wild fish caught development as participation. At two at some sites. Fencing the perimeter of within the boundaries be- the government sites, non-landown- was installed at the top the project site, al- longed to the rice field owner is focused on ers were permitted of dikes to prevent fish though this was not and were not recorded as part intensifying rice to join, but only a from escaping during intended at project of the CBFC harvest. culture. It has only few did. A leader, high floods. inception. recently begun to vice leader, secretary experiment with and accountant were different types elected to form the of aquaculture in management com- flooded rice fields. mittee. CAMBODIA Cambodia’s fresh Participation Culture sites were Selection of Floodplain aquaculture in water capture was open to located in rectangular participants was Cambodia did not achieve fisheries ranked 4th all community enclosed areas made on a voluntary levels of production sufficient most productive members. Those of nylon nets and basis, including to generate benefits for project behind China, India interested in supported by wooden landowners. At all participants. Environmental and Bangladesh. participating in fish poles within open sites, benefit sharing factors, including flooding, late culture registered access reservoirs or on was done according arrival of floodwaters and during to Increasing the Water to Food Conversion Rate in Tropical Floodplains 127 Country/ Methods and Ownership of Description Approaches Technical Design Floodplains and Fish Production and Benefit Beneficiaries Sharing a village-level private rice fields membership and reduction of the grow-out meeting. delineated by net included a share period undermined fish fencing. Fish pathways of 10% for poor production. Vandalism of fish and ditches were households of two culture enclosures also led to introduced into rice villages in Cambodia. high losses. fields in some sites in the second year to facilitate fish migration. CHINA The CBFC model Fish culture was In Jiangsu province, CBFC in China did In terms of output, households was adapted to managed by a fish were stocked in ir- not bring about in Taiping chose to eat their create a system caretaker house- rigation canals. Culture significant change in share of production—fish based on pooling hold/contractor that sites were delineated income or liveli- being a luxury protein source. resources (land has had experience by fencing. In Yunnan, hoods. However, it In Jiangsu province, farmers and/or labor) by in fish culture. All fish were stocked in did generate social shared the fish they got from community partic- households in each flooded rice nurseries. benefits, such as the project with family and ipants. of the communities There was no enclosure creating additional friends. Generally, Yunnan received a previously used or modification of funds for social communities wished to con- agreed share of the infrastructure. welfare and rural tinue fish culture to obtain an benefit from fish development pro- eco-friendly protein source at a culture. The local grams and decreas- low price. fisheries bureau su- ing the amount each pervised the project household needs to in the village. contribute yearly. It has improved rela- tionships between villagers and has increased the pro- duction of lotus in Yunnan province. MALI CBFC provided local Fish culture was Net pens were set up Access to mares is Due to persistently high water communities, NGOs managed by in one large enclosure regulated by the levels in the mare this year, and the national a committee, located within mare. main families, who the enclosures could not be agricultural research composed of the were descendants of harvested before the end of and extension village chief and the original farming- the project. We find that overall system (NARES) representatives of fishing settlers. catch would increase over with a model for main ethic groups 100% but more significantly, increasing the and resource users. we find that the catch per productivity of individual participating in the mare (flood plain collective fishing event would depression), which increase roughly 500% represent the primary source of income for most households during the dry season. 128 Addressing Water, Food and Poverty Problems Impact and change televisions—technologies that are important in providing rural households with access to information. Fish culture in communities in Bangladesh, China and Mali showed potential impact in terms of food Although relatively modest levels of fish production security and increased income. In Vietnam and were achieved in China, fish production still Cambodia, research increased understanding of the provided significant benefits to participating conditions required for collective action, specifically communities. In Taiping village, in particular, for developing CBFC systems. This research will contribute directly to the development of locally appropriate and technically feasible fish culture systems in both countries. In Cambodia, the project responded to government commitments to establish community-based fish refuge ponds (FRPs) in every village in the country by providing best-practice guidelines for FRPs. In Bangladesh, increase in fish production brought significant changes to the community, who related the story of their village in the community-produced film, ‘The Island of Dreams and Success’. Moreover, prior to the intervention, households fished individually in open access waters and competed with one another for the fish catch. Since the introduction of fish culture on a community basis, households have learned to work together to manage fish culture activities and to beneficiary households preferred to receive their protect the fish stock. share of production in the form of fish rather than in cash. Fish production from CBFC led to a Beneficiaries in Bangladesh say that the overall significant increase in fish consumption in Taiping. impact has been the generation of income so The additional fish that the project provided for that they can afford to educate their children or home consumption was a sufficient incentive for to purchase assets such as mobile phones and the community to continue fish culture. Increasing the Water to Food Conversion Rate in Tropical Floodplains 129 In Mali, the impacts of constructing the aquaculture enclosures in Mama Pondu mare go well beyond that of fish production within the enclosures. The project focused on development and management of the mare resources and has increased community awareness of its reliance on this common resource and its commitment to improve mare resource governance overall. Consequently, livestock herders have taken greater care in tending their flocks, fishers have limited their poaching during the closed season and farmers have reduced the amount of vegetation that they extract as fodder for small livestock. At the institutional level, national agricultural research and extension system (NARES) partners also reported important changes in their working practice and research, knowledge and skills. The application of participatory rural appraisal (PRA) methods has expanded the scope of their research beyond a simple analysis of fish productivity. Consultation with farmers at the local level in order to understand their needs and preferences has also increased. The opportunity to build international partnerships was cited as an important outcome of the project, particularly among NARES partner participants in China. The increased visibility of local departments, through connections established by the project, has led to further funding for national-level projects in areas that previously receive little attention from national agencies. 130 Addressing Water, Food and Poverty Problems Conclusion Floodplain aquaculture could increase water to food conversion significantly and provide much needed protein. Organizing a community to join forces in implementing floodplain aquaculture can provide multiple benefits, including food production, increased income, community empowerment and improved cooperation. It also brings about increased awareness of the importance of the environment and hygiene and of the fact that the floodplain is a common resource from which everyone should be able to benefit. Contact Persons Nastaja Sheriff (nastaja.sheriff@gmail.com), Olivier Joffre, Meen Chee Hong, Benoy Kumar Barman, A.B.M. Haque, Fazlur Rahman, J. Zhu, Hao van Nguyen, Aaron Russell, Martin van Brakel, Rowena Valmonte-Santos, Christine Werthmann, Amaga Kodio Partner Organizations Africa Rice Center Bangladesh Agricultural Research Center Cambodia Fisheries Administration Freshwater Fisheries Research Center, China International Food Policy Research Institute Institute D’Economie Rurale, Mali Research Institute of Agriculture 2, Vietnam Key Reference Sheriff, N. et al. 2010. Community-based fish culture in seasonal floodplains and irrigation systems. CPWF Project Report. Colombo, Sri Lanka: CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food. http://hdl.handle.net/10568/3924 Tags: PN35; Community-based Fish Culture Bibliography CPWF 2009. 2008 CPWF Annual Report: A year of transformation and innovation. CPWF Annual Report. Colombo, Sri Lanka: CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food. Increasing the Water to Food Conversion Rate in Tropical Floodplains 131