Status of integrated aquaculture - Agriculture systems in Africa

Demand for animal derived protein source is increasing owing to the increase in human population throughout the world. Agriculture which is the major source of animal protein for the world is now facing challenges owing to scarcity of adequate land and water. As demand of water to industries and household are increasing, the share of water for agriculture production is substantially decreasing particularly in arid and semi-arid zones. Thus, there is need to develop viable technologies which can sustain production. It is in this context integrated rearing system has been proposed amongst the potential alternatives. In this context the principle of integrated fish-livestock and fish-crop farming involves rearing fish besides with livestock and crop production. These systems are especially relevant for developing countries since there is limited capacity of the farming community for intensive fed aquaculture. Socioeconomic assessment on integrated aquaculture-agriculture systems in the Malawi, Ethiopia and Nigeria have showed promising results towards combating poverty and malnutrition. Thus, the emphasis in this review is centered on compiling research and development outputs in integrated aquaculture-agriculture systems in the past few decades with an anticipation of providing information for policy makers to help make evidence based decision making.