Water for Rice and Fish

While rice and fish remain staples of the diets of millions of people across Southeast Asia, modern agriculture and aquaculture have heavily relied upon intensified monoculture of rice and fish production. However, these monoculture systems still often fail to deliver nutritional benefits, with high rates of malnutrition and stunting prevailing across the region. They also often cause significant environmental damage, due to irrigation infrastructure fragmenting rivers and high levels of pesticides and agrochemicals, undermining the resilience of vital food systems. There is therefore a need for a shift in how rice and fish are produced, from monoculture systems – where the goal is primarily to increase efficiency – towards systems-based agroecological approaches that support the diversification of natural resource use (e.g., through multi-functional landscapes), the prioritisation of ecological health, and equitable access to resources.

The project’s overarching aim is to scope, develop and pilot a novel participatory planning approach with communities in the Mekong to co-design interventions for the integration of fisheries and irrigated agriculture for more environmentally sustainable and socially equitable outcomes. The approach aims at restoring longitudinal and lateral connectivity of river and floodplain systems to return connectivity of aquatic systems as the basis of rural community resilience.

The project examines the integration of fisheries and irrigation in agroecologies and social contexts across the Mekong region, utilising two pilot schemes in Cambodia and Lao PDR, with the intention of developing ‘best practices’ for implementation in other schemes in the future.

AMPERES led the coordination of all project activities, including events and workshops organisation, report writing, and conducting case studies. AMPERES was particularly responsible for developing the participatory planning approach for the subsequent phase of the piloting process.

Client: Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR)

Implementing partners: Chares Sturt University, Living Aquatic Resources Research Center (LARReC), Royal University of Phnom Penh

Country: Cambodia, Lao PDR

Duration: 2022 - 2024