Sustainable Asset Valuation (SAVi) of Aquaculture in Madagascar

In Madagascar, 80% of the population lives in rural areas with limited access to protein-rich foods, leading to problems of undernourishment and malnutrition. Fish, a nutrient-rich food, is almost exclusively available in coastal regions and urban centres on the island. Aquaculture has the potential to supply the rural population with fresh fish and additional income opportunities.

Rice-fish systems enable carp and tilapia to be farmed alongside rice in paddies, providing symbiotic benefits for both: the rice provides fish with a sheltered habitat and insects to feed on, while the rice is fertilized by the fish waste. Currently, only 20% of suitable fields are used for rice-fish farming, despite its benefits.

To tackle this, the Projet d'Aquaculture Durable à Madagascar (PADM) focused on the promotion of rice-fish and pond culture in the highlands and the east coast of Madagascar. Financed by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by the Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GMBH, the project supported 15,815 fish farms covered in the project. Local communities also benefited from livelihood opportunities across the value chain and from the availability of fresh fish and improved nutrition.

The project was implemented over six target regions, covering 590 hectares: Analamanga, Vakinankaratra, Itasy, Amoron’I Mania et Haute Matsiatra in the highlands, and Atsinanana along the east coast. Each region is characterized by diverse types of fish farming: rice-fish culture in the regions of Vakinankaratra, Itasy, Haute Matsiatra, and Amoron’I Mania, as well as pond culture in the regions of Analamanga and Atsinanana.

We worked with The Shamba Centre and GIZ to assess the costs and benefits of

• extensive rice-fish farming: a land-based system that uses earthen ponds to cultivate fish symbiotically with rice, optimizing nutrient exchange to balance natural feed use and promote mutual growth.
• semi-intensive fish farming: operates on land in earthen ponds and relies on fertilizing the pond to produce natural feed, which is then supplemented with carbohydrates and other formulated feeds to make the best use of the protein source.
• intensive net cage fish farming: operates in large water bodies and relies on feeding caged fish with formulated feeds and sufficient water exchange to maintain water quality and provide for oxygen.
• intensive fish farming in tanks: operates in fish tanks using recirculating aquaculture systems and relies on feeding fish with formulated feeds and mechanical and biological water conditioning, as well as aeration and/or oxygenation.

Our Sustainable Asset Valuation analysis found that when including externalities in the assessment of these aquaculture projects, extensive systems perform on average 36% better than intensive systems by avoiding negative externalities associated with these systems.