Factors determining the productivity of mola carplet (Amblypharyngodon mola, Hamilton, 1822) in carp polyculture systems in Barisal district of Bangladesh
Introduction
Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in the world with > 159 million people, and high levels of poverty and food and nutrition insecurity (World Bank, WFP, and BBS, 2010). More than 31% people live below the national poverty line (BBS, 2010, ADB, 2016) and rates of malnutrition are among the highest in the world, with six million children estimated to be chronically undernourished (DHS, 2011, HKI and JPGSPH, 2016). Micronutrient deficiencies (insufficient intakes of vitamins and minerals) are widespread, and resulting in a range of negative health outcomes, such as stunted growth and hampered brain development and cognition in children (Thilsted and Wahab, 2014a). Vitamin A is a particularly important micronutrient, deficiencies of which are linked to diarrhea, measles infections, blindness and child mortality (Fiedler et al., 2016).
Fish originates from marine capture fisheries, inland capture fisheries and aquaculture and these sectors are extremely important to income and food supply in Bangladesh. The sector's indirect contribution to the national economy goes beyond its 4.4% share of GDP, as it provides about 60% of the total animal protein intake, and > 11% of people in the country depend directly or indirectly on the sector for their livelihoods (DoF, 2015). More than 900,000 households are involved in aquaculture, covering 777,071 ha of freshwater ponds and gher1 (DoF, 2015). The total fish production in the country in fiscal year 2013–2014 was 3.55 million t, of which 1.96 million t (55%) was produced by inland aquaculture (DoF, 2015). The main aquaculture systems in Bangladesh are semi-intensive and intensive pond based polyculture systems (Belton and Azad, 2012).
Pond aquaculture is dominated by carp species,2 which account for 54% of total farmed fish production, and striped catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus), locally called pangas, and tilapia (Oreochromis spp.) which together accounts for a further 42% of total production. The remaining 4% consists mainly of other catfish species, climbing perch (Anabas testudineus) and small fish (DoF, 2015). Many small fish species indigenous to Bangladesh (referred to as small indigenous species, or SIS) are known to contain particularly high levels of micronutrients including vitamin A, calcium, zinc, phosphorus and iron (Table 1). SIS traditionally provided the major share of animal protein and micronutrients consumed by poor rural households (Roos et al., 1999), but are now increasingly scarce and expensive due to the degradation of aquatic habitats and overexploitation of inland capture fisheries (Toufique and Belton, 2014). One species, the mola carplet, (Amblypharyngodon mola), locally called mola, has a higher vitamin A content than any other fish consumed in Bangladesh, and is many times richer in vitamin A than commonly farmed species such as carps and tilapia (Thilsted, 2012, Thilsted and Wahab, 2014b, Bogard et al., 2015, Fiedler et al., 2016). Regular consumption of mola thus has the potential to alleviate malnutrition problems in developing children (Thilsted and Wahab, 2014b, Bogard et al., 2015, Fiedler et al., 2016).
A number of experimental studies have been conducted on the polyculture of SIS with carp (Kohinoor et al., 1998, Rahman, 1999, Kohinoor, 2000, Wahab et al., 2003, Alim et al., 2004, Kohinoor et al., 2005, Kadir et al., 2007, Kunda et al., 2014, Roy et al., 2015). Research findings indicate that SIS, including mola, are suitable for pond polyculture with carps, and that the inclusions of these fishes in polyculture systems does not decrease carp production (Roos, 2001, Roos et al., 2003b, Roos et al., 2007). SIS breed freely in ponds under natural conditions, meaning that annual restocking of fingerlings is not necessary for perennial ponds (Afroze and Hossain, 1990, Hoque and Rahman, 2008). Thus, the integration of small fish with carp in pond polyculture may increase total fish production for both consumption and income purposes, with carp providing an income source for households and SIS contributing toward fulfilling nutritional requirements. Therefore, the Agriculture and Nutrition Extension Project (ANEP), funded by the European Union (EU) introduced this polyculture system to 790 farmers in 2013 to increase pond productivity and income, and to fulfill nutritional demand in Barisal district. Research described in this paper was conducted to assess the productivity of mola with carp in polyculture among farmers adopting the technology as part of the project, and to identify factors contributing to the productivity of mola and other fish stocked species, in order to support future efforts to promote mola culture.
Section snippets
Study area and farm interviews
Barisal district is located in the south-central region of Bangladesh, and contains a large number of ponds, reported as 68,686 by BBS (2011). Many of these ponds were originally constructed as borrow pits to raise the level of homesteads to avoid flooding and prepare gardens to grow fruit, or to build roads. In these ponds farmers practice extensive3
Farm characteristics
A total of 177 farms were surveyed from three sub-districts. Pond size and water surface area were not significantly different between demo and non-demo farms, and varied from 0.04 to 0.24 ha and 0.03 to 0.18 ha, respectively (Table 3). Similar pond size and water surface area were reported by WorldFish Center (2008) for the coastal region of Bangladesh, by Hossain et al. (2010) for ponds belonging to members of Adivasi communities in northern Bangladesh, and by Belton et al. (2011) and Jahan et
Conclusions
The development of sustainable aquaculture among rural households with limited resources in south-central Bangladesh remains a challenge. The Agriculture and Nutrition Extension Project disseminated improved aquaculture technologies and strengthened linkages between farmers and market actors to increase fish production and fulfill the nutritional requirements of producer households. Gross income, net income and BCR for all demo and non-demo farms were positive. Demo farms, which were monitored
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to European Union (EU) funded Agriculture and Nutrition Extension Project (ANEP, Grant no.: DCI-FOOD/2011/261-122) for funding this research. This research paper is a contribution to the CGIAR research program on Livestock and Fish. The authors of the manuscript express their gratitude to Dr. Roel H. Bosma, Wageningen University, The Netherlands and Christopher Brown, Science leader, WorldFish, Bangladesh and South Asia office for their constructive suggestions and
References (57)
- et al.
An assessment of chemical and biological product use in aquaculture in Bangladesh
Aquaculture
(2016) - et al.
The characteristics and status of pond aquaculture in Bangladesh
Aquaculture
(2012) - et al.
Strengthening the contribution of aquaculture to food and nutrition security: The potential of a vitamin A-rich, small fish in Bangladesh
Aquaculture
(2016) - et al.
Integrated floating cage aquageoponics system (IFCAS): An innovation in fish and vegetable production for shaded ponds in Bangladesh
Aquaculture Reports
(2015) - et al.
Effects of silver carp and the small indigenous fish mola Amblypharyngodon mola and punti Puntius sophore on fish polyculture production
Aquaculture
(2007) - et al.
Small indigenous fish species in Bangladesh: contribution to vitamin A, calcium and iron intakes
J. Nutr.
(2003) - et al.
Is aquaculture pro-poor? Empirical evidence of impacts on fish consumption from Bangladesh
World Dev.
(2014) Basic 2016 Statistics
(2016)- et al.
The reproductive cycle of the freshwater fish Amblypharyngodon mola (Ham.)
J. Zool.
(1990) The sustainable livelihoods approach to the development of fish farming in rural Bangladesh
Journal of International Farm Management
(2009)
An economic analysis of freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii, farming in Mymensingh, Bangladesh
J. World Aquacult. Soc.
The economics of sutchi catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus) aquaculture under three different farming systems in rural Bangladesh
Aquac. Res.
Measuring technical, allocative and cost efficiency of pangas (Pangasius hypophthalmus: Sauvage 1878) fish farmers of Bangladesh
Aquac. Res.
Striped catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus, Sauvage, 1878) aquaculture in Bangladesh: An overview
Aquac. Res.
Effects of adding different proportions of the small fish punti (Puntius sophore) and mola (Amblypharyngodon mola) to a polyculture of large carp
Aquac. Res.
A production function analysis of pond aquaculture in Southern Ghana
Aquac. Econ. Manag.
Analysis of feeds and fertilizers for sustainable aquaculture development in Bangladesh
Statistical Yearbook of Bangladesh
Statistical Yearbook of Bangladesh
Review of aquaculture and fish consumption in Bangladesh
Homestead Aquaculture in Bangladesh: Current Status and Future Directions
Inclusion of small indigenous fish improves nutritional quality during the first 1000 days
Food Nutr. Bull.
Economics of aquaculture feeding practices: Thailand
Production performance of white fish in two different culture systems in Patuakhali, Bangladesh
Journal of Advanced Scientific Research
UN Population Project, Save the Children Calculation. Estimated for 2011
Fishery Statistical Yearbook of Bangladesh
Fishery Statistical Yearbook of Bangladesh
Techno-economic viability of rice-fish culture in Assam
Aquac. Econ. Manag.
Cited by (14)
Does urbanization affect the gap between urban and rural areas? Evidence from China
2022, Socio-Economic Planning SciencesEconomic evaluation of green water in cereal crop production: A production function approach
2020, Water Resources and EconomicsCitation Excerpt :Cobb-Douglas (CD) production function is a commonly employed function to describe the technical relationship between the inputs and outputs of a production process. The function has been widely used for estimating the contribution of inputs in crop (e.g. Yao, 1996[66]) and fish production (e.g. Karagiannis and Katranidis, 2000 [28]; Ali et al., 2016 [2]), as well as the contribution of water as a resource input in several sectors (e.g. Onofri et al., 2017 [39]; Wang and Lall, 2002 [63]). The implicit value or shadow price of ecosystem input as indicated above will be the product of marginal productivity and price of output.
Production economics of striped catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus, Sauvage, 1878) farming under polyculture system in Bangladesh
2018, AquacultureCitation Excerpt :For example, Phuong et al. (2007), Boonchuwong et al. (2007) and Ahmed et al. (2010) for pangasius farming in Vietnam, Thailand and Bangladesh, respectively; and Asamoah et al. (2012) for tilapia farming in Ghana. Moreover, Ali et al. (2016a) and Karim et al. (2017) used the Cobb-Douglas production function model to analyse the carp-mola polyculture system in Bangladesh. The four explanatory variables specified in the model are within the control of farmers.
Measuring nutritional quality of agricultural production systems: Application to fish production
2018, Global Food SecurityCitation Excerpt :Therefore, for the purpose of examining indicators, the total yields of small and large fish from pond polyculture systems used are 204 and 1841 kg/ha/year, respectively, the average yields reported in the literature (Karim et al., 2017). Species included in ‘small’ and ‘large’ fish categories for the various systems are based on production systems described in the literature from Bangladesh (Ali et al., 2016; Alim et al., 2005; Murshed-e-Jahan et al., 2015; Roos, 2001). The average yields are distributed evenly across species within a category included in the system.