Integrated rice-fish farming to fight schistosomiasis, improve food security, and promote economic growth in Africa
Biological solutions cohort
Integrating fish aquaculture in rice farms establishes scalable strategies for human health, agricultural productivity, and economic development. Schistosomiasis, a widespread vector-borne disease that relies on freshwater snails that thrive in rice paddies, creates cycles of poverty and disease among farmers.
The team will leverage the natural predators and competitors of snail vectors in rice paddies by integrating the aquaculture of nutritionally and economically valuable fish into small-scale rice farming. This approach aims to improve nutrition, combat schistosomiasis, support economic development, and reduce environmental degradation by minimizing carbon-intensive fertilizers and pesticides.
Farmers in Senegal are welcoming fish into their rice paddies. A team supported by the Accelerator hopes the fish will fertilize the crop, serve as a source of food, and eat the snails that carry parasitic worms.
The chronic disease schistosomiasis wreaks havoc on more than 220 million people around the world. New research shows how introducing fish into rice fields could help reduce disease incidence and poverty in a hot spot for the disease
Schistosomiasis infects millions of people each year. Researchers at Stanford and in Senegal are working to reduce disease transmission in rice paddies, make food systems more productive and sustainable, and boost local economies – with the help of fish.