Could fish be a secret ingredient for rice farmers to avoid disease and make more money?

Could fish be a secret ingredient for rice farmers to avoid disease and make more money? July 12, 20266:49 AM ET By  Jonathan Lambert ,  Rolando Arrieta Researchers net tilapia, which they'll transport to the paddies of a rice farm in the Senegal River Valley. Ricci Shyrock for NPR hide caption toggle caption Ricci Shyrock for NPR Momy Seck Ndao has been planning for this day for months. The environmental engineer is standing beside two swimming-pool sized ponds, each lined with a black tarp and full of hundreds of tilapia. Two of her colleagues trudge through the pond in waders, trying to corral the fish with a net. "For this project, we need a lot of tilapia, about 1,900," says Ndao, as she eyes the horizon. They're in a race against the rising sun. It's still relatively low but will soon heat this part of the Senegal River valley to about 100 F, hot enough to bake the fish on the way to their final destination — a rice field. Sponsor Message There, these tilapia — and a handful of other fish — are the key ingredients in an ambitious experiment. Ndao and her colleagues are trying to see if adding fish to rice farms can help solve three problems plaguing rice farmers, and Senegal more broadly — food insecurity, poverty and a debilitating disease. Global Health A plan to get lifesaving food to hungry kids was working well — until it wasn't To Ndao, it's a particularly Senegalese solution. The national dish, thieboudienne, is a delectable combo of rice and fish. "We eat it every day. So if you grow rice and fish in the same area, you just need to add vegetables," Ndao says with an easy laugh, "and you will have your daily dish." Fishing expedition But first, Ndao and her team have to catch those tilapia and schlep them to the farm. Once enough fish are concentrated by the net into a writhing mass, other colleagues swoop in with smaller buckets to scoop them up. Quickly, but careful not to spill, they shuttle the buckets to a big green tank on the bed...