Sustainable Blue Foods from Rice-Animal Coculture Systems.
Environ Sci Technol
; 58(12): 5310-5324, 2024 Mar 26.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38482792
ABSTRACT
Global interest grows in blue foods as part of sustainable diets, but little is known about the potential and environmental performance of blue foods from rice-animal coculture systems. Here, we compiled a large experimental database and conducted a comprehensive life cycle assessment to estimate the impacts of scaling up rice-fish and rice-crayfish systems in China. We find that a large amount of protein can be produced from the coculture systems, equivalent to â¼20% of freshwater aquaculture and â¼70% of marine wild capture projected in 2030. Because of the ecological benefits created by the symbiotic relationships, cocultured fish and crayfish are estimated to be carbon-negative (-9.8 and -4.7 kg of CO2e per 100 g of protein, respectively). When promoted at scale to displace red meat, they can save up to â¼98 million tons of greenhouse gases and up to â¼13 million hectares of farmland, equivalent to â¼44% of China's total rice acreage. These results suggest that rice-animal coculture systems can be an important source of blue foods and contribute to a sustainable dietary shift, while reducing the environmental footprints of rice production. To harvest these benefits, robust policy supports are required to guide the sustainable development of coculture systems and promote healthy and sustainable dietary change.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Oryza
/
Greenhouse Gases
Limits:
Animals
Language:
En
Journal:
Environ Sci Technol
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Country of publication: