Senegal: Integrating Fish Into Rice Farming

Fighting schistosomiasis, improving food security, and promoting economic growth in Africa

Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease that disproportionately affects rural communities in Africa, impacting up to 200 million people each year. Schistosomiasis is transmitted by freshwater snails that host the parasite, and communities with lack of access to clean water and health services are most at risk. Irrigated agriculture such as rice farming that is common across sub-Saharan Africa creates ideal habitats for the snail vectors. This not only places rice farmers and their families at risk of infection, but can also exacerbate poverty; because sick farmers are not able to work, schistosomiasis infection can lead to a 40% drop in household income. This can create a negative feedback loop where disease causes poverty and poverty makes populations more vulnerable to disease. The DECO program is collaborating with researchers in Africa to break this cycle while promoting food security and sustainable agriculture.

Our team is piloting the use of rice farming systems that integrate fish as a low-cost, ecologically sustainable control method for schistosomiasis. In this pilot, we introduce economically and nutritionally valuable fish species into smallholder rice paddies. These fish serve as natural predators and competitors of the snails that carry the schistosoma parasite, thus reducing the risk of transmission. At the same time, fish farming provides a high-quality food source, boosts household incomes, and increases rice yield, all while reducing reliance on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. This solution is easily adoptable by small-scall farmers because of the minimal upfront capital required for start-up, and can be easily scaled to other geographies.

Led by faculty from the the Doerr School of Sustainability and supported by the Stanford Sustainability Accelerator, this project demonstrates how ecological food systems can simultaneously support nutrition, improve health, fight poverty and reduce use of agrochemicals, with the ultimate aim to create scalable, low-cost solutions that improve livelihood, protect the environment, and reduce the burden of disease.

This work is being done in collaboration with partners in Senegal - the Station d'Innovation Aquacole (SIA) in Saint Louis, the Research Center for Economic and Social Development (CRDES) in Dakar, and the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Aquaculture, and Food Technologies (S2ATA) at the Universite Gaston Berger in Saint Louis - and the USA, including University of Notre Dame and Cornell University.