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General Information
The principle of integrated fish farming involves farming of fish along with livestock
or/and agricultural crops. This type of farming offers great efficiency in resource
utilization, as waste or byproduct from one system is effectively recycled. It also
enables effective utilization of available farming space for maximizing production.
The rising cost of protein-rich fish food and chemical fertilizers as well as the
general concern for energy conservation have created awareness in the utilization
of rice and other crop fields and livestock wastes for fish culture. Fish culture
in combination with agriculture or livestock is a unique and lucrative venture and
provides a higher farm income, makes available a cheap source of protein for the
rural population, increases productivity on small land-holdings and increases the
supply of feeds for the farm livestock. The scope of integrated farming is considerably
wide. Ducks and geese are raised in pond, and pond-dykes are used for horticultural
and agricultural crop products and animal rearing. The system provides meat, milk,
eggs, fruits, vegetables, mushroom, fodder and grains, in addition to fish. Hence
this system provides better production, provides more employment, and improves socio-economic
status of farmers and betterment of rural economy.
Integrated fish farming can be broadly classified into two, namely: Agriculture-fish
and Livestock-fish systems. Agri-based systems include rice-fish integration, horticulture-fish
system, mushroom-fish system, seri-fish system. Livestock-fish system includes cattle-fish
system, pig-fish system, poultry-fish system, duck-fish system, goat-fish system,
rabbit-fish system.
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