Aquaculture CRSP
SECTION A: NEW WORK PLANS
HONDURAS RESEARCH
Linkages of Aquaculture within Watersheds and Concurrent Design of Hillside Ponds
Appropriate Technology Research 2 (9ATR2)/Activity
Objectives
1) To elicit farmers’ and change agents’ perspectives about the role of aquaculture within hillside watersheds;
2) To identify design criteria (needs and constraints) for hillside ponds in participation with end users; and
3) To develop alternative pond designs suited to local conditions.
Significance
The hillsides of Latin America cover about 1 million km2 and provide livelihood for some 20 million people, among whom roughly half are classified as "poor" and live in marginalized, rural communities (Knapp et al., 1997). Principal Central American countries (followed by % area in steep-slope agriculture) are: Honduras and Nicaragua (80%), Costa Rica (70%), and El Salvador and Guatemala (75%) (CIAT, 1996). Typically, the hilly landscape is very heterogeneous and made up of small plots. About half of the hillsides ecosystem in Latin America is progressively deteriorating due to the combined effects of deforestation, overgrazing, destructive tillage techniques, improper water management, and unfavorable socioeconomic conditions (Whiteford and Ferguson, 1991; Knapp et al., 1997). This has serious implications for agroecological sustainability.
Together with other watershed management initiatives (e.g., soil conservation measures, agroforestry), pond aquaculture can play an important role in stabilizing these ecosystems (Scherr and Yadav, 1997) as testified by Asian experiences (e.g., Nepal, the Philippines). Fishponds also serve multiple roles including water conservation, income generation and food production. However, hillside ponds are rare in Central America apparently because of high costs associated with mechanized earth moving and/or high labor needs for hand construction, and lack of knowledge of alternate designs suited to local conditions. Further, research by both Zamorano (Lee, 1997) and CIAT (1997) suggests that poor understanding of biophysical (landscape) and socio-economic (lifescape) linkages among farmers in hillside watersheds impedes more sustainable use of land/water resources in Honduras.
In this activity, tools that have been developed by UGA, Zamorano, CIAT, and the SANREM CRSP (Bellows et al., 1995) will be used in a participatory setting with farmers to elicit their perspectives on linkages between pond aquaculture operations and watersheds. We believe that this will lead to an increased understanding (among farmer groups and technical assistance personnel) about how natural resources within watersheds can be exploited in a more sustainable fashion. Additionally, we will use concurrent (implying a participatory process) engineering design principles (Veland, 1992) to identify the needs of fish farmers ("customers") interested in hillside aquaculture, their socio-economic and environmental constraints, and the level of technologies available to construct ponds. These criteria will then be used to develop alternate designs (which address farmer needs and constraints) that can be used for pond construction.
Anticipated Benefits
Expected benefits include an improved understanding of biophysical and socio-economic linkages between aquaculture and the associated watersheds, which has implications for sustainable resource management. The work will also help to document perspectives of farmer communities with regard to the role of aquaculture in the agroecosystem(s), which may provide insights into better ways of introducing technology. An indirect benefit is the training (with elements of natural resource planning, social perspectives of resource use, and agricultural-aquacultural interactions) that will be imparted to CIAT and Zamorano staff. The lack of such interdisciplinary training has been identified as a major weakness of the National Agricultural Research System (NARS) in Honduras (Contreras, 1992).
Assessment of design criteria with concurrent farmer inputs is a critical element of developing pond design plans suitable to hillsides. It is expected that this participatory process itself will be beneficial to personnel (e.g., technicians and students) from Zamorano. Further, application of engineering principles for assessment of soil/terrain characteristics and water availability in the hillsides will likely lead to more robust pond designs, which in turn has broad applications in Honduras and other parts of Central America.
Activity Plan
Location of Work:The field work for this activity will occur in a representative hillside micro-watershed in the Comayagua department of Honduras. A major portion of the work will, however, be undertaken at Zamorano and at UGA campuses where additional facilities and expertise is available.
Methods:The proposed plan includes the following sequence of tasks:
Identification of a Representative Micro-Watershed: The first task will be to identify a micro-watershed that typifies hillside regions and has existing fish farmers, including operators who use land and water resources for a range of agriculture-related activities. It would also be useful to determine if some of the existing farmers plan to build additional ponds because participation is likely to be enhanced by a merging of research and farmer interests. Watershed identification will be done by a team of UGA, Zamorano, and CIAT personnel.
Identification and Documentation of Linkages: As indicated earlier, existing tools will be used in a participatory manner to identify watershed linkages. Examples of these tools include the Participatory Landscape/Lifescape Appraisal (PLLA) tool developed by the SANREM CRSP (Bellows et al., 1995) and an interactive (physical) game based on the commercial product Jenga®; (Lee, 1997). These tools are somewhat complementary in that the PLLA approach consists of formally identifying linkages together with small groups of people, documenting them, and then discussing implications of the linkages. The Jenga-based game involves building a tower of wooden blocks (colored green, brown and blue to represent forests, soils, and water respectively in a watershed configuration), and then asking individuals/groups to develop resource extraction strategies. Various outcomes (collapse of the towers indicating catastrophic events such as impacts of hurricanes/earthquakes, stable but less productive systems, and productive but less stable systems) are possible, after which discussions take place to understand implications and connectivity among resource users in watersheds. We have modified Lee's (1997) game and have successfully used it in a multiple stakeholder workshop recently held in collaboration with CIAT at Managua, Nicaragua. Documentation for this game (in Spanish) is available in Nath et al. (1999). Experiences gained with these tools specifically with regard to their implications for future aquaculture development will be documented both in Spanish and English.
Development of the Design Team:The working team for the pond design work will be assembled from UGA, Auburn and Zamorano PIs, students from Zamorano, interested farmers, extension agents/NGOs, and local leaders.
Identification of Design Criteria:The working team will identify critical design elements including socio-economic constraints (land size, resource/labor availability, etc.), environmental limitations (soil quality, slopes, water availability, etc.) and economic profitability. Using this initial assessment, a range of design concepts will be generated by the working team within the limitations that have been identified. Design criteria will be further refined using GIS (Geographical Information Systems) and modeling software (see below).
Analysis and Modeling: This task will involve use of data and analysis tools to further assess the design criteria and identify suitable pond locations in the possible areas. In terms of spatial datasets, CIAT has developed a detailed atlas for Honduras, which includes the latest datasets including an updated soils map as well as a digital terrain model (DTM) at the 50 m resolution level. These datasets together with climatic data provide a useful foundation for the modeling work.1
Design of pond structures depends highly on local topography and soils characteristics. Calculations will be made for embankment stability based on soil characteristics. Using bracketed values of storage requirement and given topography, modeling tools will be used to bracket embankment volumes needed to create hypothetical storage requirements. Efficacy of the pond designs for the intended uses will be evaluated by considering the resulting depths and other geometrical characteristics, storage volume and useful life from sedimentation considerations.
Documentation and Delivery of Pond Designs: The pond designs developed will be documented and discussed with farmers during a follow-up trip to Honduras (with the same working team). Ideally, we would like to have one or more farmers invest in pond implementation using the proposed designs - however, this will depend on their interest and motivation to do so. In collaboration with Zamorano and other institutions, we will also pursue the possibility of seeking resources to build one or more ponds provided all parties are agreeable. The rationale behind this thinking is that we believe it is unsustainable for the PD/A CRSP to fund activities such as pond construction - once the program leaves, it is less likely that additional ponds will be constructed. Instead, farmers should be encouraged to either invest in the construction or seek in-country resources to do so. Further, if the CRSP were to fund pond construction, it is likely that no more than a couple of ponds would be constructed; we would then be faced with the sensitive task of choosing from among different farmers.
Regional Integration
We do not plan a formal integration of this activity with the overall region. However, the work will be jointly conducted by Zamorano personnel (faculty, staff, and students). An indirect regional link is likely to occur if one or more of the participating students are from other Central American countries.
Schedule
Work will commence by October 1999. Initial tasks (identification of watersheds, documentation of linkages, and development of design criteria) will be completed by December 2000. The remaining tasks will be completed by April 2001.
Report Submission
Two reports, spanning the two years of this activity, are planned. These will be respectively submitted to the PD/A CRSP by 31 July 2000 and 30 April 2001.
References
Bellows, B.C., G. Buenavista, and M. Ticsay-Rusco, (Eds.), 1995. Participatory Landscape/Lifescape
Appraisal, Volume 1. SANREM CRSP Research report 2-95. Sustainable Agricultural and Natural Resource Management CRSP, University of Georgia, 171pp.
CIAT, 1996. CIAT Hillsides Program. Annual report 1994-1995. International Center for Tropical Agriculture, Cali, Colombia.
CIAT, 1997. Community-led management of watershed resources in hillside agro-ecosystems of Latin America. Annual highlights for project PE-3. October 1997. International Center for Tropical Agriculture, Cali, Colombia.br>
Contreras, M., 1992. The organization of a small-country agricultural research system with broad research demands: Institutional diversity in Honduras. ISNAR Small-countries Study Paper No. 4. The Hague: International service for National Agricultural Research, 46 pp.
Knapp, E.B., J.A. Ashby, H.M. Ravnborg, and W.C. Bell, 1997. A landscape that unites: community-led management of Andean watershed resources. Presentation at the 52nd Annual Conference of the International Soil Water Conservation Society, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 22-26 July 1997.
Lee, M.D., 1997. Communicating natural resource sustainability issues using an interactive group game. Proceedings of the AWRA/UCOWR Symposium on Water Resources Education, Training and Practice, 29 June-3 July, 1997. Keystone, Colorado.
Nath, S.S., B.P. Verma, D. Nute, E.B. Knapp, and V. Zapata, 1999. Decision Making methodology for multiple stakeholder teams. CIAT, Cali, Colombia.
Scherr, S.S. and S. Yadav, 1997. Land Degradation in the Developing World: Issues and Policy Options for 2020. 2020 Vision Brief No. 44, IFPRI, Washington, D.C.
Veland, C., 1992. Engineering by Design.
Whiteford, S. and A.E. Ferguson, 1991. Harvest of Want: Hunger and Food Security in Central America and Mexico. Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, 264 pp.
1 A hydrological model (Joep Luitjen, University of Florida, personal communication) developed specifically for small Latin American hillsides is also available for use in this activity. Other modeling tools for locating ponds and assessing water availability over long-term periods are also available in the US. These tools will help pinpoint suitable locations for ponds, and determine if adequate water is available for aquaculture. CAD (computer aided design) tools will be used to develop actual design blueprints for ponds within the criteria imposed by the requirements and constraints of hillside farmers. Computer tools are also available to assess the structural integrity of "virtual" models of ponds in response to different operating conditions. Tools that may be used include RUSLE®, an implementation of the USDA-ARS Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation; SEDCAD®, a watershed scale surface hydrology and sedimentology single storm simulation model; CREAMS, a USDA surface hydrology multiple storm simulation model capable of running over an entire year; and Finite Element Analysis to evaluate structural integrity of the designs. These packages require numerous inputs regarding weather, land use practices and soils data, all of which are available are available in CIATs GIS atlas for Honduras.
PD/A CRSP
