Abstract
The overall objective of this project is to analyse to what extent integrated rice-fish farming could provide a sustainable alternative to rice monocropping for a long-term increased food production in the Mekong Delta. The underlying hypothesis is that integrated rice-fish farming provide a competitive alternative to rice monocropping if the farmer takes full advantage of the natural production capacity of the rice field ecosystem. An unwise use of pesticides, however, increases the production cost and decreases the yield of both rice and fish by disrupting the ecological balance of an integrated system. Decreased use of pesticides, through IPM practices, are therefore necessary to make rice-fish farming a competitive alternative to rice monocropping. As IPM strategies cannot completely replace the use of chemicals in pest control operations, many chemicals will continue to be used. This project therefore also aims to develop strategies for a *safer* use of pesticides in integrated rice-fish farming. As a first step a preliminary environmental risk assessment for some of the most common pesticides used in rice-fish farming will be made. Through interviews and field surveys data will be collected on farmer household composition, income and farming practices among 80 rice and rice fish-farmers with and without IPM methods in Takeo province, Cambodia. Negative effects from pesticides will be measured as decreased biodiversity and fish yield in the rice field ecosystem.
Sweden