J. Sc. & Tech. Univ. Peshawar, 2016, 40 (1), 61-68 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF AQUACULTURE AND AGRICULTURE INDUSTRIES FOR THE PROVISION OF SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOOD IN DISTRICT SWAT, NORTHERN PAKISTAN IMTIAZ AHMAD 1 , ABDULLAH KHAN 2 , MUHAMMAD NAFEES 3 , SHAMS ALI BAIG 4 1 Department of Transport, Environment Section, Directorate of Transport Peshawar, Pakistan 2 Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Hariphur, Pakistan 3 Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Peshawar, 25120, Peshawar, Pakistan 4 Department of Environmental Sciences, Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan 23200, Pakistan Abstract: The objective of this study was to compare the status of trout fish revenue with agriculture for the financial years 2014-15 on Madayan Fish Hatchery (MFH) in Swat. For this purpose, one Government hatchery and 30 private hatcheries at Madyan were intensively studied for one year. Data shown that the total productions in all hatcheries were165600 kg/annum where the Government hatchery contribution was 40600kg/annum while privates were 12500 kg/annum. In addition, Government hatchery release 190 thousands fish per annum into t River Swat and played an important role in fish conservation and eco-tourism promotion. However, the total annual expenditures for the Government and 10 private hatcheries were 8 and 25 million rupees, respectively. Thus, the revenue generated from aquaculture was two times high than that of agriculture and considered to be the good source of livelihood for the local residence. Findings from this study suggested that the establishment of modern aquaculture system in Madayan zone (Madayan to Parai) can effectively improve the socioeconomic conditions of the people and help to conserve trout and other fauna in Swat River’s network. Keywords: Trout aquaculture, Fish conservation, Lilihood and socioeconomic development. Introduction Aquaculture is farming of aquatic organisms i.e. fish species in inland and coastal areas and considered to be a profitable business. In simple words aquaculture is the cultivation of fish (Shabir, 2012). Aquaculture industry has important role in food production for daily uses. This sector contributes 50% of the total fish production worldwide (UNDP, 2005). Fish comprises half of the total vertebrates in the world and live almost all possible aquatic habitats (Shinde et al. 2009). To decrease the pressure on natural fish population, aquaculture has got more contribution and needed further development (Kanwal etal. 2004).Fish is one of the aquatic resources not only used as food but also as a source of recreation and livelihood (Wajid et al, 2002). In Pakistan two types of fish resources are found i.e. fresh and sea. The collective contributions of both are about 0.5% to 1.0% to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is quite low as compared with other countries (Ahmad, 1999). In India and Bangladesh, fishery sector contributes about 2% and 3%, respectively to GDP. Looking into the available rich aquatic resources of Pakistan its contribution is quite low (Mirza et al, 2011). Fish provide healthy protein and is an integral part of our diet but the per capita fish consumption is also low as compared with other countries (EPS, 2012). According to Food and Agriculture Organization report, in Pakistan the pre-capita fish consumption is about 500 g annually,