Replication Data for: Integrating fish into water control infrastructure in Myanmar: Rice Fish What If?

With rapidly increasing investment in water control infrastructure (WCI) and a recently ratified agriculture development strategy that promotes integrated farming of high-value products such as fish, agricultural production, already fundamental to Myanmar’s economy, will be central to driving the countries’ socioeconomic transformation. Water planners and managers have a unique opportunity to design and manage WCI to incorporate fish and, in so doing, reduce conflicts and optimise the benefits to both people and the ecosystem services upon which they depend. Results from rice–fish culture experimental trials in Myanmar’s Ayeyarwady Delta are providing an evidence base for the importance of integrating fish into WCI, highlighting a range of both environmental and social benefits. By using less than 13% of paddy land area and through best management practices, existing rice productivity is sustained, alongside a 25% increase in economic returns for the same land area from fish. In addition, there are considerably more protein and micronutrients available from the fish produced in the system. Should these farming system innovations be adopted at scale, Myanmar stands to benefit from increased employment, incomes and nutritional value of farm plots (alongside associated reductions in pesticide pollution) and water use benefits.1

随着水利调控基础设施（Water Control Infrastructure, WCI）投资持续快速增长，以及近期获批的、推广鱼类等高值产品综合种养的农业发展战略，作为缅甸经济根基的农业生产，将成为推动该国社会经济转型的核心动力。水利规划者与管理者拥有独特契机，可通过设计并管理水利调控基础设施纳入鱼类养殖要素，借此减少利益冲突，同时优化人类及其赖以生存的生态系统服务所能获得的收益。缅甸伊洛瓦底江三角洲开展的稻渔综合种养试验结果，为将鱼类养殖纳入水利调控基础设施的重要性提供了实证依据，并凸显了多维度的环境与社会效益。仅需占用不足13%的稻田面积，并通过最佳管理实践，即可在维持现有水稻产能的同时，使同一块土地因鱼类养殖带来的经济收益提升25%。此外，该种养模式产出的鱼类还能提供更为丰富的蛋白质与微量营养素。若该种养系统创新模式得以大规模推广，缅甸将从中获益：包括提升就业水平与居民收入、改善农田产出的营养价值（同时伴随农药污染的减少），以及优化水资源利用效益。1