A Rice-Duck Combination to the Rescue

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May 25, 2005—To rice growers in the Philippines, the golden snail is a pest eating its way through rice paddies, destroying crops.

But to the Philippines’ mallard duck farmers, the golden snail is an important food source – a good alternative to expensive commercial feed.

For rice growers, there are simply too many golden snails. Snail infestations can destroy up to 60% of a rice crop, so farmers have often relied on chemicals to control the snails – resulting in environmental degradation and increasing their own production costs.

But for duck farmers, the snails are in short supply. In lake areas where mallard ducks are farmed, dredging and pollution have caused both the golden snail and other indigenous varieties to be depleted.

An innovative proposal – selected as one of the winners of this year’s Development Marketplace competition - attempts to balance the competing views of the golden snail, a big teacup-sized gastropod, originally a native of South America.

The unusual proposal by the University of the Philippines Los Banos, partnered by the Provincial Government of Laguna, is to raise ducks and cultivate rice in the same location.

Development Marketplace 2005: Rice-Duck Systems to the Rescue

Mary Jean Bulatao, of the University of the Philippines Los Banos, says since ducks are a water fowl – foraging for feed in the water – researchers came up with the idea of introducing the duck to irrigated rice areas infested with the golden snail.

The idea is to have a “Duck Ranger”- a movable duck shed to house free ranging ducks in the rice fields.

“During rice growing, the ducks will be allowed to range in the rice paddies, ten days after the transplantation,” Bulatao says.

In the afternoons, the ducks will be herded back to the sheds. The ducks can be transported to other fields to repeat the process.

The concept is seen as a “win” for both the duck farmers and rice growers, with the ducks controlling the golden snail population, which will improve the productivity of the rice fields. Duck farmers gain from cheaper duck feed, while rice farmers gain from an environmentally friendly and inexpensive way to fight the destructive golden snail.

Bulatao says the proposed project would initially directly benefit 100 farmers.

“But we don’t stop there. There are around 17,000 families in the pilot area,” she says.

“The project will be initially loaning the farmers the capital for the ducks and the duck sheds. They will be repaying the project with 20 eggs a day, which will be collected by the farmer organization.

“The duck eggs will then be sold. After a repayment period of six months, there will be enough money to buy another set of ducks and duck sheds.”

Bulatao says in that way the project will keep on multiplying.