Aquaculture plays a vital role in providing nutrition and jobs in developing nations but more aquaculture is needed.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization also said the amount of farm-reared fish must increase from 66 million tons annually to 93 million tons by 2030 to maintain current levels of per capita global fish consumption.

A new report states that efforts to reduce malnutrition have resulted in 200 million fewer hungry people worldwide since 1990. But millions of people still deal with chronic hunger everyday. In the fight against poverty and malnutrition, smart nations have found success by developing self sufficient food sources, promoting economic growth and engaging women in business enterprises.

The Diplomat reported that a leading example is Bangladesh, which used this formula to cut chronic hunger by more than half since 2000, according to the United Nations who stated that Bangladesh had reduced the number of underweight children by 25 percent.

Just four decades ago, Bangladesh was newly formed, impoverished nation facing high levels of extreme hunger when floods and famine destroyed what few resources it had. With desperately high demand, imported food grew scarce and 1.5 million people died from famine and sickness. Those terrible times forced Bangladesh to take action to increase its food security and self-sufficiency.

In the 1980s, Bangladesh started to build small farm irrigation systems, increasing rice production and most importantly developing cutting edge aquaculture practices. It also identified more than 1 million abandoned ponds, roadside canals, ditches and seasonally flooded pools as potential source of fish production.

By helping local residents develop effective aquaculture techniques, Bangladesh now has more than 500,000 previously unused ponds teeming with fish. These famers helped boost its fish yields eight fold in just the first year. Fish production grew at a 300 percent rate during the 1990s. Bangladesh experience shows the importance of farm-reared fish in fighting hunger, the report said.

Unfortunately, governments have yet to fully realize the importance of aquaculture for nutrition and job creation so governments need to spend more on fish farming.

"National budgets in developing countries allocate much larger amounts to crops and livestock than to fish. Other developing nations should take Bangladesh’s lead and stress aquaculture farms because they provide a sustainable, growing source of nutrition and income. The added benefits to women and society at large are a bonus," the report stated.