Stochastic frontier analysis of catfish (Clarias gariepinus) aquaculture agribusiness for sustainable fisheries development: Evidence from Nigeria

Özet

Technical efficiency assessment and enhancement is critical to sustainable fisheries developmentin Nigeria. This study examines stochastic frontier of catfish aquaculture agribusiness for sustainable fisheries development. Purposive sampling technique was employed to select 110 catfishfarmers in areas with high density catfish farms. Primary data were collected directly from catfishfarmers using structured questionnaire. The analytical tools used were descriptive statistics, netfarm income, stochastic frontier production function (SPF) and t-statistics. The result shows thatmost of the catfish farmers were young people within the productive age of 40-49 years. Catfishfarmers had obtained various levels of formal education. Finding shows that feeds cost was thehighest variable cost (72.75%). Feed had a positive and significant relationship (P<0.05) with catfish output. Mean technical efficiency is 53.49%. The estimated variance (δ2s=0.2125) is statistically significant (P<0.05), indicating that profit inefficiency is highly significant among catfishfarmers. Estimated Gamma (γ) value of 0.26 implies that 26% of the total variation in catfish profitefficiency is due to the joint effect of technical inefficiency factors. The most significant efficiencyfactors are fish feed and pond size. The age and educational status of farmers are the most important determining factors of inefficiency in catfish production system. Lack of finance was themost serious constraint faced by catfish farmers. The study recommended that catfish farmersshould form cooperative unions to facilitate their access to cooperative funding.