Fisheries based farming system for sustainable livelihood of coastal farmers

Fisheries is an important component in the coastal farming systems along with crop, dairy and poultry. In the present study, twelve farming systems in which fisheries is a component were studied by employing seven indicators of sustainable livelihood namely environmental conservation, permanent asset creation, food security, nutritional security, input recycling, employment generation and annual income in Tiruvallur and Thanjavur districts of Tamil Nadu. The results revealed that all the seven identified indicators were found to be higher in the fisheries based farming system. The farmers need to be educated and motivated to adopt fisheries as a component in farming system for attaining the much needed food and nutritional security as well as overall sustainability of the coastal farming systems. Institutional support coupled with development of rural infrastructure is suggested as strategies to promote this combination for the sustainability of agricultural systems in the coastal region. Different enterprise combinations within the farming system remain the backbone of agriculture in sustaining the livelihoods o