Abstract
In Asia region, during the 1st Phase (September 2018 – September 2023) of the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Fish (FIL) under Mississippi State University (MSU), USA financially and technically supported and implemented 7 aquaculture and fisheries research projects in Bangladesh and Cambodia. Both Bangladesh and Cambodia are the two naturally resourceful agro-based nations in Asia. In particularly Bangladesh is one of the leading countries in Asia-Pacific region for aquaculture development to support human nutrition, income generation of rural fish farmers and country’s economic growth. The country is currently ranked in the 5th position being a producer of 2.8 percent of the total global aquaculture production . On the other hand, although aquaculture in Cambodia, is one of the flourishing sub- sectors, but till remained far behind to other neighbouring countries viz. Vietnam and Thailand including Bangladesh, but aquaculture plays as well an important role in food security and livelihoods of the people. Government of Bangladesh and Cambodia are extremely supportive to develop aquaculture and fisheries. Meanwhile, FIL came forward to implement successfully 5 projects in Bangladesh to the areas viz. i ) Cryogenic sperm banking of major carps; ii) Carp genetic improvement; iii) Harnessing machine learning to aquaculture production and value chains; iv) Foodborne pathogens at aquaculture value chains; v) Strategies for inclusive aquaculture value chains. At the same time, FIL implemented in Cambodia 2 successful projects viz. i) Development of Bighead catfish culture; ii) Sustainability of fisheries for resilience of Cambodian fishing communities. Successful implementation of these research projects had already shown a great impact at the end of the activity period in September , 2023, while a number of evolved aquaculture and fisheries technologies have been innovated, tested at farmer’s field, disseminated and used for maximizing human nutrition and poverty alleviation of hundreds and thousands of vulnerable rural communities (mostly youth and women communities) in these two Asia region countries, which had certainly contribute d to the missions of the Feed the Future Strategy and/or resilience programming.
In this paper, an attempt has been made to address successful implementation of FIL funded 7 projects in Asia region along with the role and impact on aquaculture and fisheries development in Bangladesh and Cambodia are also highlighted.
Key words: FIL Funded Projects Implementation , Asia Region , Role and Impacts on Aquaculture and Fisheries Development, Bangladesh and Cambodia
2 FIL Asia Specialist, Department of Agricultural Sciences, Texas State University, 601 University Drive, San Marcos, Texas 78666, USA. Email: mmd120@txstate.edu