Integrated Production of Rice and Fish: Toward a Sustainable Agricultural Approach

Aims: To improve the knowledge and practice of integrated agriculture (specifically rice-cum-fish) in the face of declining land availability and increasing food demand.

Study Design: Experimental study design.

Place and Duration of Study: Akperan Orshi College of Agriculture, Yandev, Nigeria, between June 1 and November 30, 2014.

Methodology: The research methodology was that of an experimental design with three plots comprising of rice mono-cropping, fish mono-culture and rice-cum-fish culture in an integrated production plot. Three plots of land were used totaling an area of 0.04025 ha (402.5 M2). Fish was reared in an earthen pond with a total area of 0.0100 ha (100 M2) and 1.5 M deep. Also, integrated production plot of rice-cum-fish with an area of 0.02025 ha (202.5 M2) where the area for rice was centralized and measuring 0.0100 ha (100 M2), leaving the remaining area of land bordering the rice plot at 0.0100 ha (100 M2) and 1.5 m deep for rearing fish. Zero tillage was adopted for both areas allotted for the cultivation of rice to enhance sustainable agricultural practice. The research lasted for a period of 183 days. Fish in the various ponds were harvested on the same day with the aid of fishing gears, weighed and recorded. Rice was also harvested on the same day, trashed, winnowed weighed and recorded.

Results: The parameters considered for rice were plant height (PH), number of tillerings produced by rice and rice yield. Fish parameters include fish mean length gain (MLG), total number of fish harvested and survival rate. The average PH, number of tillers and rice yield for Rice Mono-Culture (RMC) and Integrated Production Plot (IPP) were 70.9 cm & 78.8 cm, 16 & 20, 1456 Kg/ha & 1625 kg/ha respectively. Similarly, the Fish Mean Length Gain (MLG), total number of fish harvested and the survival rate for Fish Mono-Culture (FMC) and Integrated Production Plot were 40 cm & 47 cm, 1237 & 1250 and 95% & 96% respectively.

Conclusion: Integrated farming system have a tendency of positively influencing, improving and increasing the community’s rice and fish production in the face of the threatening increase in population and food demand from the results obtained. Further research could also be conduction within and outside the research area to ascertain the trends and dynamism of this system of agriculture taking into consideration global climate change.