Success Stories In Asian Aquaculture - Library - Network of ...

2 Recent Developments in Rice-Fish Culture in China21area increased by 162.3% during 1983–2006 in China. In comparison, the area ofrice-fish culture increased only by 139.2%. Although there has been a slight changein the area of rice–fish culture, the production has maintained a fairly steady trendof growth. This is a good indicator of improved management practices and cultureefficiency. The production growth attained is not significantly higher in the recentpast compared with the 1990s. This was largely due to the increase of area for cultureof high valued species in rice–fish culture, such as freshwater prawn, crab andhigh valued fish (e.g. swamp eel), the unit production of which is usually muchlower than the traditionally cultured carp species in rice fields. However, the economicreturn has been significantly improved as these species usually fetch 3–5times higher price than carp species.The total production of fish from rice–fish culture has maintained a steadygrowth trend for more than two decades, though the growth rate has varied in thedifferent periods. In general, the production increase has been much faster comparedto the area expansion of rice-fish culture. During 1985–2007, the total productionincreased by 13-fold. It is obvious that such an increase is achieved mainlythrough the improvement of production efficiency, which has resulted from bothincreased inputs and improved management practices. Present average unit fishproduction from rice-fish culture has reached about 780 kg/ha in China in contrastto 126 kg/ha in 1985.2.4.2 Species DiversificationIn the recent decades, diversification of species of aquatic animals cultured in ricefields can be considered as an important trend. Many indigenous and exotic specieshave been introduced to rice–fish farming systems. These species are usually moresuitable for rice field environment, and are often of much higher market value.Currently, some 30 aquatic animal species are cultured in rice fields in differentparts to China (Zeng and Wang 2006) . Important species cultured in rice–fish systemare given in Table 2.1 .2.4.3 Proliferation of Rice–fish Culture Across the CountryIn addition to the general growth trends of rice–fish culture in the past threedecades, there has been also extensive proliferation of the culture practices acrossChina in the past two decades. In 1990, rice-fish culture was practiced in 20 provinces/MDUCG/AutonomousRegions in China. Only 11 provinces/MDUCG/Autonomous Regions had fish production from rice fields exceeding 1,000 tons. By2007, rice-fish culture expanded to 25 provinces/MUCG/Autonomous Regions inChina. There were 18 provinces/MUCG/Autonomous Regions that produced morethan 1,000 tons of fish from rice fields. Fourteen provinces/MDUCG/Autonomous