Integrating Aquaculture-Agriculture to Combat Food Insecurity in Malawi

In partnership with Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), the Project will establish demonstration ponds in six districts to showcase the desired skills and good practices to adopt and replicate the IAAS approaches, such as: (i) a pond on rice-fish integration; (ii) a pond for polyculture of red breasted tilapia with an indigenous dwarf cichlid integrated with goats; (iii) a pond with tilapia and an indigenous dwarf cichlid integrated with poultry. All three types of ponds will be integrated with orange flesh sweet potato vines cultivated around the ponds. In addition, regular on-farm training and mentoring of the smallholder farmers, especially women, will be provided with the support of SMEs, cooperatives, NGOs, and other local players, especially through peer collaboration among women and youth.

2025-06-01

2028-12-31

Food security, income and productivity.

1. Food Insecurity –
a. Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) - The Food Insecurity Experience Scale Survey Module (FIES-SM) is composed of eight core questions with dichotomous yes/no responses.
b. Months in a year with inadequate food (less than 3 full stomach meals) for every household member.
2. Dietary diversity - measured by consumption of various food groups in the last 24 hours.
3. Income – Income generated from crop, livestock, and fish farming.
4. Productivity – Volume of crops, livestock and fish, produced at the household level.

Number farmer households practicing IAAS and uptake of new business development services.

1. Increased knowledge among small holder farmers on managing climate risks to support resilient aquaculture production
2. Increased adoption of integrated aquaculture-agriculture system by small-holder farmers,
3. Access to productive assets including land.

This study employs a randomized controlled trial (RCT) design to evaluate the impact of integrated aquaculture-agriculture systems (IAAS). Eight districts in Malawi were purposively selected for inclusion based on their potential for IAAS resource development, high levels of poverty among agricultural communities, opportunities for ecological restoration, and demonstrated government commitment to aquaculture-agriculture production as a strategy to address food insecurity.

The Malawi Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) is administratively structured into 28 District Agriculture Development Offices (DADOs), which are further divided into 154 Extension Planning Areas (EPAs). Each EPA is subdivided into Sections—commonly referred to as EPA Sections or EPAS—which represent the lowest administrative level and the primary point of service delivery to farmers. Each EPAS is overseen by an Agriculture Extension Development Officer (AEDO).

Within the eight selected districts, EPAS units will be randomly assigned to either the treatment or control group. The treatment group will receive the full IAAS intervention package, while the control group will not receive any project interventions during the trial period.

Not available

Randomization done in the office by a computer.

Extension Planning Area Sections (EPAS) or EPA Sections.

Yes

160 Extension Planning Area Sections (EPAS) or EPA Sections.

2,900 fish farming households

80 EPA Sections treatment, and 80 EPA Sections control.

Power: 0.8 (80% chance of detecting a true effect of this size or larger). With a sample size of 2,900 farmers, the study can detect effects as small as 0.14 standard deviations when the ICC is low (0.05), but this increases to 0.17 standard deviations when the ICC is higher (0.10).