Diversification in Aquaculture Resources and Practices for Smallholder Farmers

Abstract

Rural aquaculture and peri-urban aquaculture have been recognized as significant contributors in the economy of the developing world. Smallholding rural aquaculture has been conceptualized as the farming of aquatic organisms by small-scale farming households and communities through extensive or semi-intensive production system utilizing low cost resource as inputs. Small-scale aquaculture contributes in the societal development in the rural and semi-urban economy involving over 41 million folks worldwide. The operational attributes of smallholder aquafarming is centered round three principal components like culture species, inputs, and capital. In contrast to European finfish aquaculture dominated by only two species, rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, and common carp, Cyprinus carpio, culturable species of finfish are significantly diverse in Asian countries. Though major carps are considered as the pillars of small-scale production, exotic carps and indigenous minor carps are contributing significantly. The objective focus of the smallholding aquaculture practitioners particularly in the developing Asian countries aims at more heterogeneity in species of culture based primarily on the localized niche market demand that could be supported with low cost cereal and pulse processing wastes and animal husbandry by-products as basic inputs. Parallel with diversification needs, there is a growing interest on introducing different cat fish, murrels, pangasius, tilapias, gourami, ornamental fish, and minor carps, and even previously considered “weed and unwanted fish” turned out as a most valuable fish in the small-scale aquaculture sector. Intensification rather up-scaling through diversification of resources in smallholding aquaculture depends on four principal attributes, viz., (i) resource utilization, (ii) capital, (iii) culture environment, and (iv) species of culture. As production process largely depends on local environmental conditions, it is impractical to have common technology or practice extended to all locations towards diversification in resource use in small-scale aquafarming. The need and goal of diversification in small-scale aquafarming is primarily centric towards economy where ecological attributes are seldom being focused particularly in the Asian countries. The present article discusses the attributes, constraints, and suggestive measures in the inclusive diversification of smallholding aquaculture.