Submitting Campus

Asia Campus

Document Type

Article

Publication/Presentation Date

2017

Abstract/Description

Aquaculture production has prospered rapidly since the 1970s and is considered as a part of the rural development program in many countries. The impacts of aquaculture on the rural communities in terms of livelihood and food security are assessed in this paper. Aquaculture contributes to the livelihood of the poor through improved employment and income. Aquaculture creates job opportunities for rural communities, especially for illiterate women to earn side income for the household. With increased financial ability, household manage to reflect stronger purchasing power and have better access to the resources. However, there is a controversy among the researchers whether that aquaculture in rural communities is showing a pro-poor growth due to imbalance in resource distribution. In terms of food security, aquaculture of small indigenous fish in the small farmer system in rural areas provides a high quality of animal protein and essential nutrients, such as vitamin B12, calcium, and potassium. Unfortunate cases like child blindness, infant mortality and non-communicable disease (NCDs) have substantively decreased with the help of rural aquaculture. In Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICT), locally-canned tuna turned out as an affordable and non-perishable food source for the remote inland residents, helping them to achieve self-sufficiency. However, when aquaculture involves farming of large-sized commercial species, problem of food insecurity resurfaced as these commercial large fish species does not bring same quantity of nutrition as compared to small fishes.

Publication Title

International Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Studies

Publisher

International Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Studies

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