Enhancing benefits from polycultures including tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) within integrated pond-dike systems: a participatory trial with households of varying socio-economic level in rural and peri-urban areas of Bangladesh

Abstract

Linkages between the fish ponds and surrounding land for horticulture are a distinctive feature of farming households in Bangladesh. It was hypothesised that integration of fish ponds in integrated farming system enhances livelihoods and reduces poverty. The effects of introducing tilapia into existing integrated farming systems on the broader pond-dike system and associated livelihoods in rural and peri-urban settlements in central north (Mymensingh District) of Bangladesh were evaluated. This paper describes a participatory trial with farming households aggregated by well-being (better-off and worse-off) and location (peri-urban and rural) practising integrated pond-dike farming. Outcomes were monitored over a full production cycle of a control group (1) compared to households choosing to stock Nile tilapia as an additional species within their standard polyculture systems using either the same levels (2) or enhanced levels (3) of nutrient input.