Simon Funge-Smith FAO Regional Office for Asia and the PacifiC FAO-APFIC

1. Small-scale
aquaculture: diversifying
livelihoods and adding
value to family farming
Simon Funge-Smith
FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific

2. Small-scale aquaculture often
overlooked
• Production from small ponds and
extensive (rice) systems may not be
noticed
• May be highly seasonal (monsoon)
• Unseen contribution undervalued?
– Household income
– Family nutrition
• Particularly important for
– developing countries
– supplementing diets
– areas where traditional cropping systems
do not generate much income
Can you spot the fish?
Rice-fish, fish ponds, North
Vietnamese highlands

3. Small-scale aquaculture
contributes to livelihoods
• Source of food in the
household
• Supplementary household
income
– Can sell part of crop for ready
cash
– Spares other assets like livestock
• Diversification of staple crop
systems
– e.g. rice farming
– Adds alternative low risk
income/food source
• A bit like small livestock
Small-scale
seaweed locally
marketed
Philippines

4. Low investment, low risk?
• Not everyone can get into
aquaculture
• Start up requires access to:
– land and water, fingerlings, feed
resources
– family labour
• Small-scale operations can be very
low investment
– Family operated, using on farm(feed)
resources
– Opportunity of family labour
– Low risk of losses if fish harvest is
poor
– Not susceptible to diseases like small
livestock
Carp broodstock in
family hatchery
Myanmar

5. Small-scale aquaculture
production systems are
diverse
• Integration into existing farming
system or family livelihood
– Stocking of water storage ponds
– Integration with rice
– Integration with small livestock
• Dedicated small-scale low risk systems
– Small fish cages in waters bodies
– Seaweed lines
– Stake culture of oysters and mussels
– Small fish ponds
• Systems can be highly adaptive
– fitted to families resources and assets
– Also time available to contribute to the
activity
Mixed harvest of
stocked and wild
fish

6. Small-scale aquaculture is highly
scalable
• Family operations start small as a low
risk experiment
• As experience builds and ponds
demonstrate consistent potential
• Farmers may invest and upscale
– Invariably requires higher financial
investment(in feed and other inputs)
– Productivity can increase significantly
– Intensification requires
professionalization and closer controls on
management
• In other cases, the risk level is set
and a family will not intensify to
avoid financial exposure
Small oyster farms
for restaurant trade
Thailand

7. Women are often innovators in
small-scale aquaculture
• If ponds or hatchery close to the
home
• Fits into existing work
– not heavy labour
– Some exceptions (e.g. seaweed)
• Market fish directly or via other
women
– Additional income stream
• But limited up-scaling
– unless hiring labour
• Benefit from organization
Kelp
China
Euchema
Philippines

8. What makes aquaculture a
successful family livelihood
option?
• low-technology type
production systems
• Good fit with existing
farming system/livelihood
activities
• Gradual introduction (step by
step approach)
• Simple, robust/resilient
systems
• Ready access to (local)
markets is a pre-requisite
• Simple market requirements
– i.e. product
quality/freshness/characteristics
Small fish ponds integrated into
vegetable and fruit gardens
Viet Nam

9. Improving management on
small family farms
• As family aquaculture system become
more intensive farmers need to pay
attention
– to feeding and water quality
– marketing of their crop
• The stakes are higher and risk increases
• Organization of farmers into groups
strengthens their ability to
– Access advice (use of Better Aquaculture
Practices)
– Group purchasing of quality feeds and
fingerlings
– Sharing of management knowledge and
advice
– Group marketing or bargaining on sale of
products
Feeding small scale
fish cages
Thailand

10. Small-scale aquaculture can still
be vulnerable
• Theft is a major deterrent to
families
– small operations located close
to home
– or have to be guarded by a
family member
• Flooding and drought
(climate variability)
• Market instability
• Disease risks exist, especially
as farms intensify
Living on the fish cage
Lao PDR
Fish kills after heavy
rain

11. Small-scale aquaculture may still
need regulation
• Small-scale aquaculture typically
exists within the local environmental
carrying capacity
• Relatively few dispersed operations
• As more farmers start to become
interested, can lead to overcrowding
– this can overload an area
– disease
– water/effluent conflicts
– market instability
Massive over-
crowding of small
shrimp coastal
shrimp ponds
Thailand

12. Marketing vulnerabilities
• Small farmers targeting supermarkets and
international market chains
• Increasing stringency on requirements for
food safety, product quality, traceability….
– shifting goalposts, small famers cannot adapt in
time
• Farmers may use banned or unlicensed
products
– Banned antibiotics/chemicals (chloramphenicol,
nitrofuran, malachite green)
• Trade barriers
– Labelling, anti-dumping, technical barriers
– Price fluctuations
Family harvesting
small pond
Lao PDR

13. We must recognize small-scale
aquaculture may be transient
• Parallels to livestock development
• As sector develops
– especially for a specific commodity
– Some farmer specialize
• Market requirements means smaller
famers unable to meet standards
• Still a role for on farm food
production
– But may become uncompetitive
• Emergence of fully commercial
aquaculture farms
Small backyard
hatchery
Lao PDR

14. Thank you
Fish, banana, taro, vegetables, bamboo
Viet Nam