Alternative strategies for livestock-fish integration with emphasis on Asia

Alternative strategies for integration of livestock and fish culture are pr oposed based on a perceived polarization of production systems and markets for livestock in Asia: Rural, nutrient-poor farming systems that have limit ed potential for conventional integrated farming; and aquaculture linked to industrialized, periurban livestock systems. These options contrast with c urrent conventional integration in which manure from feedlot livestock fed with off-farm feed is directly used as fertilizer in fish culture. Smallhol ders attempting integrated farming are constrained by poor availability of nutrients, and paradoxically the superabundance of livestock wastes typical of periurban areas also deters use in aquaculture since high land values d o not favor the recycling of such wastes in semi-intensive ponds. Intensifi cation of both traditional livestock and fish production components through the strategic use of imported nutrients is identified as a promising strat egy for smallholder livestock-fish production. A range of practical methods is proposed for 'industrial-level' integration, including culture of toler ant fish species, reuse of culture water, and pre-processing of livestock w astes to produce live feeds for intensive fish culture.