Asia
RNRRS legacy
Research reports for Cambodia
RNRRS legacy
Research reports for Cambodia
- Agriculture-aquaculture mix boosts productivity
Growing crops and fish together raises productivity and helps relieve pressure on land and water resources. This could help many developing countries where land and water are under extreme pressure. Simple forms of community management make good use of water and nutrients and boost harvests of fish from rice fields, ponds and traps. Community groups successfully manage integrated systems in Central Bangladesh, southeast Cambodia and northeast Thailand. Integrating water use in aquaculture and agriculture is now spreading throughout South and Southeast Asia. In northwest Bangladesh around 30,000 households already produce fry and fingerlings in rice fields. These integrated systems have great potential for improving livelihoods and nutrition for millions of the rural poor. (Ref: AFGP04) - Consensus-building tool brings participatory planning to the floodplain
Participatory Action Plan Development (PAPD) is giving the community a say in how natural resources are managed. Although this is not a new idea, there are few success stories from the many previous attempts in the Bangladesh floodplain. It's used early on to assist in setting up new institutions or before new phases of a project, and helps identify those features likely to influence their sustainability. PAPD is widely used in Bangladesh in the land-water interface and floodplain fisheries context. It has been adapted for the charlands (river islands), and recently used in areas such as disaster preparedness and agroforestry systems. Outside Bangladesh, PAPD is used by the WorldFish Center in Vietnam, and in coastal India (Kerala) and Cambodia. (Ref: NRSP01) - Foods from water bodies improve life for the very poor
Simple new ways of managing wild and cultured fish in paddy fields, ponds and lakes mean that people have more reliable supplies of food, better diets and better nutrition. For centuries, the rural poor have relied on wild fish, plants, snails and other foods. But these are fast disappearing because of over-exploitation, dwindling flood plains and more intensive farming. People - especially the poorest - in Northeast Thailand, lowland Cambodia and Bangladesh are already reaping the benefits of these systems and they are being strongly promoted in Vietnam, India, Indonesia and Lao PDR. There is also great potential in hilly agricultural and tropical forest systems where rainfall is seasonal. (Ref: AFGP02) - Helping fishers make smarter decisions
Market information systems, often based on simple mobile phone and local-centre web access, help poorer groups make smarter decisions. Although market intelligence systems are widespread globally, they mostly serve large companies in developed countries. Flexible local networks connecting producers, traders, NGOs, the public sector and consumers help them quickly find and use the information they need. Artisanal fishers have rapidly caught on to using mobile phones to find out where they can get the best prices for their catch. 'One Stop Shops' in Bangladesh, and similar networks in Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam, also offer fishers cheap local access to market information. These simple systems could have a major impact, particularly in countries where aquaculture is booming. (Ref: AFGP07) - Huge potential for safe fish and vegetable production in urban areas
Agriculture and aquaculture in and around cities creates jobs, and can improve the environment, reduce waste and provide good cheap food. Previously, the risk of contamination from poor quality and waste water posed dangers. But safe ways of producing fish and growing water vegetables around cities are now available. Techniques for aquaculture and horticulture have been tested near Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, Blantyre in Malawi, Phnom Penh in Cambodia, Bangkok in Thailand, Yaounde in Cameroon, Dhaka and Mymensingh in Bangladesh and Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. The potential for raising fish and growing vegetables to supply booming urban markets in developing countries is enormous and could have a major impact on improving incomes, food and nutrition. (Ref: AFGP03) - Participation oils the wheels of fisheries management
Simple ways of collecting and sharing data and information are helping improve management of small fisheries. These fisheries make important contributions to national economies and exports, and provide a living for over 200 million people in Africa and Asia. Previously, poor fishers - and other stakeholders - weren't consulted on decisions that affected them, often with unfortunate results. It's proved invaluable for fisheries departments and fishers to get together to gather and use information to help manage these fisheries better. Getting stakeholders to participate means their interests are taken into account and they don't lose out. Step-by-step guidelines are already widely used in Bangladesh, Cambodia and Thailand, and organisations in Bangladesh, Uganda, Barbados, Cambodia and Tanzania are customising the approach for their own needs. (Ref: FMSP04) - Software to boost or restore natural fisheries
Newly-released EnhanceFish software helps fisheries staff calculate the costs and benefits - both social and economic - of boosting wild fisheries by stocking them with hatchery-reared fish. The software can be used to determine whether it's worthwhile to improve a fishery and, if so, with what, when and how. Although enhancing natural fisheries can improve incomes and have other social benefits, fisheries staff need to have a good understanding of the overall system and of the likely biological and socio-economic impacts. The package guides them through analyses and helps them advise and work with stakeholders in specific fisheries. EnhanceFish is already being used in Laos, Thailand and Cambodia. Strong interest from China and other governments indicate that this software has major potential to raise productivity and restore fisheries. (Ref: FMSP10) - Cascading knowledge: training fisheries trainers
Programmes to train trainers can cascade knowledge and skills through a system quickly and strengthen independence - there's no longer the need to rely on trainers from outside. So, to boost skills in fish stock assessment and fisheries management, workshops were held to develop cores of trained people. The trainee trainers also received quality training materials, such as presentations, course outlines and guides to writing fisheries management plans, to help them pass on their knowledge and skills to others. Leading national training centres - universities, and national training and research institutes - in East Africa, South East and South Asia, and the Caribbean are now using the training materials in formal courses. Plus, the materials are also widely used and spreading in grass-roots training. (Ref: FMSP12) - Combating fish diseases improves farmers' returns
Practical and cost-effective methods are now available to help farmers detect fish-borne diseases quickly and accurately. Severe disease epidemics threaten aquaculture, particularly smallholder production. The new methods - and simple management improvements - lower the costs of treating disease and give farmers higher yields of better quality fish. These easy-to-use practices for safe and healthy production of catfish and shrimp are already widely used in Vietnam, Thailand and India. Six Asian governments are also taking up these methods to improve fish health management services. Because people are becoming more aware of the need for better fish disease control in aquaculture these techniques could have a major impact. (Ref: AFGP05) - Best practices for fisheries
Decision makers responsible for fisheries now have best practices to help them change fisheries policies and regulations for the better. Competing demands, environmental degradation and climate change mean that fisheries are among the most difficult resources to manage. The best practices help planners to realise the potential of fisheries to reduce poverty while maximising economic benefits in the long term. Many problems with fisheries have non-fisheries causes - social and policy issues need to be taken into account along with resource concerns. Drawing together best practices is strengthening the growing global call for better fisheries management and influencing policy change throughout East Africa and South East Asia. Already, planners have used these practices to revive fisheries in post-tsunami India and develop fisheries in Sierra Leone. (Ref: FMSP02) - Communication for dissemination
In the East Asia and Pacific region, projects designed to improve the lives of fishers have worked with communicators from the Support to Regional Aquatic Resources Management (STREAM) initiative to ensure that the results of their work reach stakeholders at various levels and get used. This work aimed to overcome barriers to dissemination like culture and language, which vary from area to area. Cycles of production, testing, and revising - all in close consultation with stakeholders - produced a range of materials. Examples include four-page, picture-rich, Better Practice Guides for producers and two-page briefs for policy makers. To ensure their widespread appeal, the materials are available in 12 languages: Bahasa Indonesia, Bengali, Burmese, English, Hindi, Ilonggo, Khmer, Nepali, Oriya, Sinhala, Urdu and Vietnamese. (Ref: NRSP22) - Weighing up the pros and cons of commercializing non-timber forest products
Three new tools are now available to help weigh up the pros and cons of commercializing non-timber forest products. A book looks at how harvesting and selling forest products could make a difference to the lives of the poor and what factors need to be considered. A manual, developed and tested in rural communities, maps out ways to scale-up, add value and overcome obstacles along the marketing chain. Then, a computer program helps compare options to reduce the risk of failure. National networks, researchers and development agencies already draw on these tools to help shape their programmes. Both producing and importing countries and regions use them - Mexico, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Vietnam, the Nile Basin, Sahelian West Africa, the Mekong Delta and the Philippines. (Ref: FRP42) - Lessening risks for fishers in climate-change hot spots
A new approach pinpoints places where climate change is likely to affect fisheries most. As well as fishers' lives, climate change will affect trade, economies and jobs. 'Vulnerability mapping', as it is called, alerts people to climate-change hot spots where action is urgently needed. Communities can use this approach to help prepare for climate change. Fishing groups in Malawi have now included migration and other ways to adapt to climate change in their plans. Benin, Malawi, South Africa, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brazil, Chile, Italy, Finland and the UK are also using vulnerability mapping. It has great potential for lessening the risks of climate change throughout Central and West Africa, tropical coastal areas in South America and South East Asia. (Ref: FMSP03) - Opening the doors to markets and credit for poor fishers
Better information about how to sell their catches and where and how to borrow money is improving fishers' livelihoods. When they know how market chains and fish distribution work they have better chances of getting good prices for their catches. It's also very helpful for them to know where they can borrow money at reasonable rates. Participatory methods of collecting data have already proved useful in understanding markets and distribution chains for fish in Bangladesh. Governments not only in Bangladesh, but also in Cambodia and West Africa, and international development agencies are adopting these techniques to review and plan fisheries development. Fishing communities in South Asia, and East and West Africa stand to benefit particularly from better information on markets and credit. (Ref: PHF04)
RNRRS legacy: Asia
External resources
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Bangladesh at a glance
Source World Bank - Bangladesh: Data & Statistics (35KB) |
- Cambodia - background information
Source: World Bank - Fiji - background information
Source: World Bank
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India at a glance
Source World Bank - India: Data & Statistics (35KB) |
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Nepal at a glance
Source World Bank - Nepal: Data & Statistics (35KB) |
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Sri Lanka at a glance
Source World Bank - Sri Lanka: Data & Statistics (35KB) |
Archive
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Bangladesh takes up the challenge Innovation Challenge Fund brochure 1 2008 (PDF 480KB) |
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Nepal takes up the challenge Innovation Challenge Fund brochure 2 2008 (PDF 410KB) |
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India takes up the challenge Innovation Challenge Fund brochure 3 2008 (PDF 320KB) |
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Enabling the poor to benefit from research RIU introductory flyer Asian version - in English 2008 (PDF 270KB) |
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Bangladesh RIU country assessment, executive summary Authors: Jill Lenné, Craig Meisner, Harriet Matsaert 2007 (PDF 60KB) |
