Climate change adapted rice production: does the system of rice intensification impact malaria vector ecology?

Abstract

The proliferation of malaria vectors from irrigated rice crop systems has long been known, though the relationship between rice cultivation and malaria transmission is historically complex. Despite this, contemporary research reveals an association between enhanced malaria vector densities, originating from rice fields, and intensified malaria transmission in rice-associated communities is now occurring. In the wake of the ever-increasing pressures of anthropogenic climate change and a desire to increase rice production across the continent of Africa, alternative rice cultivation practices are being employed. One such alternative practice is the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), which although agronomically contentious is utilised in an attempt to enhance rice yields whilst reducing agricultural inputs, including water. SRI fundamentally alters the rice growing environment and may therefore have significant impacts on the ecology of malaria vector species. As a result, there may be important consequences for local malaria transmission dynamics. The adoption of SRI across Africa is increasing and is likely to do so further in the wake of the pressures of climate change. In this review, we critically discuss the possible impacts of SRI practice on the bionomics of the dominant malaria vector species of Africa.