Context

With production constantly increasing over the past 30 years, and now ahead of fisheries production for food fish, aquaculture has become a major issue for development and food security, particularly in tropical regions where the impacts of global change are most felt. In South-East Asia as in Africa, the increase in demand for cultured fish is leading to an intensification of farming practices.  Despite the very different contexts, aquaculture practices in both regions need to evolve towards greater sustainability. This evolution could be based on the new agro-ecological practices that are emerging, based on the mobilisation of ecological functionalities, on the optimisation of natural processes (ecological intensification) and on the efficient management of resources and sanitary risks.

This GDRI-South “ASACHA” aims to facilitate this agro-ecological transition of aquaculture in the South by placing scientific multidisciplinarity at the service of the sustainability of aquaculture in a context of global change.

ASACHA aims to i) structure this scientific activity between the numerous disciplines involved and the many partners from the South and the North, ii) strengthen South-South relations, by federating academic and socio-economic actors on the issues of sustainability and agro-ecological transition of aquaculture, and iii) intensify training in the South on these aspects.

The objective of this GDRI-Sud is therefore to better integrate the knowledge and skills acquired by scientists and stakeholders in tropical aquaculture, in order to develop a generic approach for the development of ecological intensification and to promote a better ecosystemic integration of aquaculture in the various socio-ecological contexts.

ASACHA will build on existing funded projects and complement existing partnership arrangements, in particular the DP ASEA and SPAD developed with CIRAD and the JEAI HealthyRice of IRD (global health of the rice agro-ecosystem).

Project implementation at a glance

• As a preamble to the project launch and in order to get to know each institution to each network member, a short survey regarding their profile, their involvement in sustainable aquaculture and their expectations from the ASACHA network was conducted.
• As a preamble to the project launch and in order to get to know each institution to each network member, a short survey regarding their profile, their involvement in sustainable aquaculture and their expectations from the ASACHA network was conducted.
• This information was used to create the ASACHA website and to set up social media.
• The information collected was analysed in collaboration with the Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development of the RUA in Phnom Penh (see ASACHA Work Groups Pdf).
• After restitution of the results and discussions with the members of the network, the following 4 work areas were chosen:
  • Aquac. Systems & Innovation (28 participants) ;
  • Environmental and Social Issues (26 participants); 
  • Fish Health Management (27 participants);
  • Fish Nutrition (20 participants).
• Each working group is facilitated by two group leaders whose role is to:
  • Facilitate the working sessions; Exchange on working modalities;
  • Identify local concerns in terms of sustainable aquaculture development; Identify weaknesses and strengths in terms of knowledge and practices; Identify technical and scientific capacity building needs.
  • Discuss collaborative actions and their implementation for capacity building in our network;
  • Generate innovative solutions through open discussions between research and development actors.