Potential And Economic Effects In The Integrated Rice-aquaculture Systems In China

Land and water are important resources for human food safety. With the increase in population and food demands, land and water resources for the development of agricultural production are limited. How to broaden the use of space resources and improve resource utilizing efficiency, have been draw the wide attention. Paddy is an important land resource for food production. The shallow water environment in paddy provides habitat for aquatic organisms like fish, shrimp, crab and turtle. So can the aquaculture be combined into rice production to develop a rice-aquaculture complex system to ensure food security, has been discussed in many Asian countries. Rice-aquaculture farming in China has a long history and has developed rice-fish, rice-crab, rice-shrimp, and other models. However, the aquaculture development potential and the economic output in our county have not been very clear. In this study, I studied the potential, patterns and distribution of rice-aquaculture system, and analyzed the productivity and economic input-output of five main models in rice-aquaculture system, through literature and statistical data analysis, and the field and farmer surveys. The main results are as follows:(1) The potential for rice-aquaculture system developmentThermal, precipitation and irrigation are main factors affecting the distribution of rice aquaculture system. The total area of rice-aquaculture system in China was1332.9k ha, accounting for4.48%of the total paddy area. And61.5%of the rice-aquaculture system was located in single-double rice crops area in the Central District of China, where rainfall was rich. Sichuan and HubeiProvinces has the largest area for rice aquaculture system. Types of rice field aquaculture (e.g. rice-fish, rice-crab, rice-shrimp, rice-turtle, rice-loach system) show a great potential for future development.(2) The enhanced productivity of per unit area of land in rice-aquaculture systemThe rice yield in rice monoculture system was7830-8835kg/ha, however, in rice-aquaculture system, the rice yield was8055-9270kg/ha, besides the output of450-1620kg/ha aquatic products, and the fertilizers and pesticides investments was22-31%lower (compared to rice monoculture system).(3) The enhanced economic output in rice-aquaculture systemIn rice monoculture system, the total input was13620-17265yuan/ha, the total output was19665-24270yuan/ha, the net output was4710-8880yuan/ha. In rice-aquaculture system, the total input was23280-69870yuan/ha, the total output was66600-239460yuan/ha, the net output was37440-192390yuan/ha.