Smallholders' Practices of Integrated Agriculture Aquaculture System in Peri-urban and Rural Areas in Sub Saharan Africa

Abstract

Sub Saharan African (SSA) population which is expected to reach 1,998 million in 2050, is undergoing a demographic transition with an average annual growth rate of 3.7% and an increase in the agricultural population of 1.9%. During the same period, aggregate agricultural food production increased only 2.6%. Meeting food needs should therefore be achieved by improving the labor productivity of farmers in SSA. In rural and peri-urban SSA, most of the people are smallholder farmers and are resource limited. They live on agriculture and to address the various challenges they face and to increase productivity, several strategies have been developed in the search for a model of agricultural development that is more equitable, more ecological and more socially viable. The adoption of integrated agriculture aquaculture system (IAA) fits in this framework. The IAA system has been adapted to SSA from Asia based on its achievements. The adoption of IAA is particularly positive for farmers in topographical conditions allowing a variety of activities within the farm including a fish pond. These variants of IAA system are various forms of adaptation to agricultural practices of each tropical region. During its application in SSA, IAA system has presented advantages as well as disadvantages but especially its opens to future opportunity for significant improvement. This paper reviews the evolution of this integrated system since its adoption in SSA and elucidates the strengths, constraints and future opportunity of this system.