Fish, roots, tubers and bananas: opportunities and constraints for agri-food system integration

ABSTRACT

Agri-food system integration has the potential to increase and add value to agricultural production, reduce cost of and dependency on external inputs, generate additional income to farmers, and encourage the diversification of outputs and diets. Agri-food system integrations such as livestock-fish, poultry-fish, crop-livestock and rice-fish farming have been well documented in academic literature. However, information on fish and root, tuber and banana (RTB) crops integration is scarcely available, despite their worldwide cultural, dietary, and economic importance. This paper, which is informed by a narrative literature review and ground-truthing through key informant interviews, documents existing linkages between two agri-food systems – fish and RTB – and identifies opportunities and challenges for strengthening their integration. We found that recorded instances of fish-RTB integration are limited and predominantly discuss production-related activities. Nevertheless, initial evidence suggests that there are important livelihood-enhancing opportunities as well as environmental, and food and nutrition security benefits, which need to be considered. These include the potential to improve the nutritional status of vulnerable populations and lower the cost of fish production and thus improve the livelihoods of small-scale fish farmers. Further field-based research is recommended to explore these outcomes in more detail.

KEYWORDS:

• Integrated agriculture-aquaculture
• agri-food systems
• roots
• tubers
• bananas
• nutrition
• fish feed
• nutrition-sensitive programmes

Acknowledgements

This research was undertaken as part of, and funded through, a collaboration between the CGIAR Research Program on Fish-Agri Food Systems (FISH) led by WorldFish and the CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas (RTB) led by the International Potato Center (CIP) and supported by CGIAR Fund Donors.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Including, but not limited to, cassava, sweetpotato, potato, cocoyam, banana, and plantain.

2 Also referred to as orange-fleshed sweetpotato

3 The development, testing and utilization of RTB crop residues as fish feed is broadly categorised at the point of production because interventions in this area concern improving or altering fish production practices.

4 Garri is a popular cassava-derived product in Nigeria, and other West African countries like Ghana, Benin, and Togo (Onyemauwa, 2010). To make garri cassava roots are peeled, washed then grated or crushed or ground. Afterward, the substance is left to ferment and then pressed in a porous bag, often between a jack, to remove excess starchy water. This process can take between 1 h to 3 days. The cassava is then sieved and roasted. This process is known as garification. In some cases, palm oil is also added to the cassava and creates yellow garri. The resultant dry granular garri can be ground or pounded to make flour (Sharma et al., 2016). Garri, the flour, is then used to make various dishes including fufu, and eba.

5 Market prices for fish species were observed in Trisal Fish Market, Mymensingh, Bangladesh.

6 Gender-sensitive interventions attempt to redress existing gender inequalities through addressing gender norms, roles and access to resources (UN Women, n.d.).

7 Also referred to as orange-fleshed sweetpotato

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Molly Atkins

Molly Atkins is a PhD Student in the International Development Department at the University of Birmingham. Her research interests include natural resource management, fisheries, rural livelihoods, gender and political ecology.

Kendra A. Byrd

Kendra A. Byrd is a Nutrition Scientist at WorldFish. Her research interests include nutrition-sensitive aquaculture/agriculture, and fish in food systems.

Lauren Pincus

Lauren Pincus is a Value Chains Scientist at WorldFish. Her research focuses on inclusive value chain development, including building women-run enterprises to produce nutritious fish-based products and reducing fish waste and loss.

Diego Naziri

Diego Naziri is a Value Chain and Postharvest Specialist at the International Potato Center (CIP) and Senior Research Fellow at the Natural Resources Institute (NRI) of the University of Greenwich, UK. His research focuses on roots and tubers agri-food systems and value chains, enterprise development and postharvest losses.

Jeleel Opeyemi Agboola

Jeleel Opeyemi Agboola is a PhD Fellow in the Department of Animal and Aquacultural Sciences, Faculty of Biosciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU). His research focuses on animal nutrition and sustainable animal production, in particular developing high-quality novel feed ingredients from renewable natural resources for both fish and other monogastric animals.

Rodrigue Yossa

Rodrigue Yossa is a Fish Feeds and Nutrition Scientist at WorldFish. His research focuses on assessing the nutritional values of locally available alternative ingredients, developing sustainable aquafeeds and promoting better feeding practices in aquaculture.