News

Image Alternative Text: Rice-fish farming in action! Women and youth pull in a net of fish.

Integrated Rice-Fish Farming: Localization Through Farm Diversification

The practice of farming rice and fish simultaneously aims to improve the productivity, resilience, and biological diversity of the rice field while making optimal use of water and land resources. The Farm Diversification activity implementation was anchored by a participatory approach, involving farmers, farmers associations, extension workers and the research team made up of academics and development experts from Nigeria, Italy, and the United States. Read the Agrilinks story by Oluwafemi Ajayi here.

Image Alternative Text: Fish Innovation Lab and CAST team members stand in front of a tree at the CAST office

WISHH Cambodian Aquaculture Project Hosts U.S. Fish Innovation Lab

Members of the Fish Innovation Lab Management Entity team recently traveled to Cambodia to meet with implementing partners and visit activity sites. While there, they met with the Commercialization of Aquaculture for Sustainable Trade project team with the American Soybean Association's World Initiative for Soy in Human Health.

Image Alternative Text: The nutrition educator assistant visiting with Medza and Mariam at their home.

Samaki Salama: Helping a Grandmother in Kenya Provide Better Nutrition to her Granddaughter

Medza, a 74-year-old woman who lives in a village in Kenya, learns how to cook more nutritious meals for her young, growing granddaughter. Through a Samaki Salama nutrition educator and a cooking demonstration class by the research team, Medza now knows how to provide a balanced diet for her family to be healthier and help prevent illness.

Image Alternative Text: Director General of the Department of Fisheries, Kh. Mahbubul Haque, remarked on the research findings.

Video: Harnessing Machine Learning Activity's Dhaka Outreach Workshop

In this video, the Fish Innovation Lab's Harnessing Machine Learning activity shows highlights from an outreach workshop in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Watch to learn more about this event and what policymakers and development partners had to say about the work the activity accomplished.

Image Alternative Text: A screenshot of both the original page in Bangla and then translated to English

The Harnessing Machine Learning Activity Receives Government Website Link

The Harnessing Machine Learning activity in Bangladesh recently achieved government buy-in to further scale the activity's work. The Department of Fisheries' website provides a link to the Harnessing Machine Learning activity's data portal to provide more people with the research team's tool to estimate the total aquaculture farm area using images from remote sensing in conjunction with a survey to collect data.

Image Alternative Text: Here is a photo of Chhoeun Sreynuch, a fisherwoman from the village of Bak Angrut in Cambodia.

Fishing is for Girls: Rural Matriarch Fishes for Family and Research

Chhoeun Sreynuch is one of the 15 fishers who participate in a fisheries research program with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in Cambodia. The USAID-funded Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Fish activity is working to collect fisheries data to understand the issues facing the fishery, so policymakers can make informed rules and regulations to protect the river and its resources.

Image Alternative Text: Arnold Irabor is taking samples from catfish in Warri, Delta State, Nigeria.

e-AquaHealth Web Platform: An Aquaculture Intervention

In a study on aquaculture biosecurity, a Fish Innovation Lab research team identified numerous gaps in fish health management in Nigeria, such as poor communication between fish farmers and veterinarians. To help address this, the team created e-AquaHealth, a web-based platform designed to bridge the gap between fish farmers and aquatic veterinary professionals to enhance the delivery of quality services and improve the wellbeing of fish.

Image Alternative Text: A group photo of the participants for the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Fish Annual Meeting in February 2023.

The Fish Innovation Lab's First Ever, In-Person Annual Meeting

Bringing together partners from around the world for the first time, the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Fish held its Annual Meeting in New Orleans from February 27 through March 1. The internal meeting was a way for the teams to not only reflect on the work that has been accomplished, but it was also an opportunity for research teams to collaborate about potential ways the teams can help one another to have the most impact in Asia, Africa, and beyond.

Image Alternative Text: No image available.

Development and Validation of Nutrition and Food Safety Educational Material for Fish Processors in Nigeria

The Nourishing Nations activity developed and validated a low-literacy flipbook designed to teach women fish processors in Nigeria about nutrition and food safety. Learn more in this article from the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

Image Alternative Text: Abdul Alim (right) is handing over a bag of WorldFish G3 rohu spawn to a customer.

Genetically-Improved Rohu is Commercially Available and in High Demand in Bangladesh

Abdul Alim, owner of Mukteshary Fish Hatchery in Jashore, Bangladesh, received G3 rohu in 2020, developed them as broodstock, and produced seed in 2022 for the first time thanks to the Advancing Aquaculture Systems Productivity Through Carp Genetic Improvement activity. “I produced 68 kilograms of spawn in 2022 and sold them for a premium price—three times the conventional rohu seed,’’ Alim said.