World Aquaculture September 2018

24 SEP TEMBER 2018 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WA S.ORG of expensive wild fish eaten (Toufique and Belton 2014). These trends imply that the expansion of fish farming has been good for the poor. Low-income households in the countries that we studied would eat less fish of any kind today, wild or farmed, were it not for the growth of aquaculture. A Quiet Revolution So, who is producing this fish and how? The “Quiet Revolution” in farmed fish supply has been driven neither by corporate agribusiness nor by tiny backyard farms. Rather, most of aquaculture’s growth over the past three decades has come from a dynamic and increasingly sophisticated segment of small- and medium-sized commercial farms and the myriad businesses that support them by supplying inputs such as feed, logistics and other services. Rather than focusing on producing expensive species for export markets or wealthy domestic customers, these unsung heroes have focused on growing affordable fish such as carp and tilapia. Where these species are produced in large quantities, they have become affordable for huge numbers of low- and middle-income consumers close to home. This transformation has not yet taken hold in many developing countries, particularly in Africa, where access to inexpensive fish could greatly improve food security. By learning from the example of nations where farmed fish supply has boomed, governments and aid organizations can make better targeted investments in infrastructure, institutions, policies and technologies to expand the impact of aquaculture’s quiet revolution. Notes This is an edited version of an article that first appeared in The Conversation on 8 March 2018 (theconversation.com/let-them-eat- carp-fish-farms-are-helping-to-fight-hunger-90421). Ben Belton, Michigan State University, Simon Bush, Wageningen University, and David C. Little, University of Stirling. References Belton, B., S.R. Bush, and D.C. Little. 2018. Not just for the wealthy: Rethinking farmed fish consumption in the Global South. Global Food Security 16:85-92. FAO, 2018. The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2018. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome. Hernandez, R., B. Belton, T. Reardon, H. Hu, X. Zhang, and A. Ahmed. 2018. The “Quiet Revolution” in the aquaculture value chain in Bangladesh. Aquaculture 493:456-468. Toufique, K.A. and B. Belton. 2014. Is aquaculture pro-poor? Empirical evidence of impacts on fish consumption from Bangladesh. World Development 64:609-620. Mobile vendor selling affordable fish in Bangladesh.