Rice-animal co-culture farming, an ancient Southeast Asian practice, could help meet global food demands and generate an additional $150 billion annually for producers while improving environmental health. This method increases rice yields and reduces nitrogen runoff, leaching, and methane emissions
Reduce annual nitrogen runoff and leaching by 300,000 tonsProvide an additional $152 billion to $171 billion in revenue to producers annually
Previous studies have found that combining rice farming with aquaculture increases land-use efficiency while reducing the need for commercial fertilizers, due to the animals’ nutrient-rich droppings, and pesticides, because aquatic species eat many problem insects and weeds. The researchers found that rice-animal farms increase annual rice yields by 4% while reducing nitrogen runoff by 16% and leaching by 13% in relation to rice monocultures.
According to the authors, the differences in methane emissions between co-culture systems can be attributed to the oxygen levels present in each system, with methane emissions increasing in response to low oxygen levels. Fish swim around the paddy fields consuming oxygen in the system, resulting in higher methane emissions. Duck and crayfish introduce oxygen into the system by digging and perturbing the soil in the paddy fields, lowering methane emissions.
If all suitable land were used for rice-animal co-culture farming, those farms would produce more than 140 million tons of animal protein per year, according to the study, surpassing current global aquaculture production of just above 100 million tons per year. Countries in other regions of the world that have the climate to sustain rice-animal farming, but currently have very few rice-animal farms established, also stand to benefit from the adoption of this practice, according to the study. Countries like the United States and Brazil could earn an extra $1.4 to $2.4 billion per year by introducing rice-animal co-culture systems.
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