In southern China, farmers have been cultivating fish and rice in the same fields for more than 1,200 years — with good reason, according to a group led by Xin Chen at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China. Farming fish and rice together achieves the same rice yield as growing rice alone, but uses 68% less pesticide and 24% less chemical fertilizer.
The researchers surveyed farmers' fields from 2005 to 2010 and conducted field experiments. They found that fish swimming among the rice plants bumped into the stems, knocking off as many as one-quarter of pests called rice planthoppers. Nitrogen from unconsumed fish feed was taken up by the rice plants, boosting yields.
The authors say that some practices from traditional agriculture could improve the efficiency of modern farming.
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Eco-farming fish with rice. Nature 479, 448–449 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/479448e
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/479448e
