Rice–duck farming
Polyculture in Asia
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Through Rice, Weed and Eutrophication
Systems
In 2010, Asia produced around 90% of the world's rice, and in 2012 some 80% of all duck meat. Asian farmers had a tradition of fattening ducks on rice paddies, though this was achieved in different ways. Integrated rice–duck farming uses hybrid ducks such as Aigamo that avoid eating the leaves of rice plants. Such mutually beneficial polycultural systems have been described as permacultures.
In 2001, rice–duck farming was introduced to Bangladesh, where the practice had been very limited. By 2004, it had been established in over 40 villages, either on small farms or on a "community basis" within a village.
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Analysis
Advantages
The ducks eat weeds, preventing those plants from competing with the rice and limiting its growth. This reduces the need for herbicides, saving money and the labour of spraying, and reducing environmental harms such as eutrophication of waterways. Duck manure fertilizes the paddy fields, reducing the need for artificial fertilizers, again saving money and labour. Both soil nutrients and water parameters including nitrate, dissolved organic matter, dissolved oxygen, and suspended solids are higher because of duck manuring and dabbling in the soil, raising production and farm profits in comparison to rice farming without ducks (or fish).
Disadvantages
The addition of ducks requires labour and either a duck herder or additional fencing on the farm. Depending on the system, it may require the field to be more carefully managed, such as being flooded to the exact depth needed for ducks to swim freely but still able to dabble on the bottom.