Risk analysis in fish farming systems in Oyo and Kwara States, Nigeria: a prospect towards improving fish production

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyze risks in fish farming systems in Oyo and Kwara States, Nigeria. The primary data were collected using structured questionnaire with personal interview method by trained enumerators. The data collected belonged to the 2015/2016 production year. The total respondents (277) in the two states were separated to concrete pond fish farmers (123) and earthen pond fish farmers (154). Descriptive statistics, safety model and multinomial logit model were used to analyze the data. The results indicated that concrete system was more hired labour driven, relatively had higher formal education, and higher total investment and credit utilized compared to earthen system. The results of the risk preference revealed that of 123 respondents in concrete pond system, 52 % are risk preferring, 34 % are risk neutral and 16 % are risk averse, indicating better risk seeking compared with 154 respondents in earthen pond system with 21.4 % being risk preferring, 59.7 % being risk neutral and 18.8 % risk averse. The results of the estimates of the explanatory variables revealed that that the set of significant explanatory variables and their signs vary across the concrete and earthen pond systems. It would be concluded that the determinants of fish farmers’’ risk status differ considerably between concrete and earthen pond systems. Fish farmers needs to be sensitized through seminars, workshops and trainings in seeking risk by extension personnel in collaboration with agricultural insurance firms, this will go a long way in improving fish production among respondents.

Keywords: Fish farming, Insurance, Marginal effect, Risk aversion, Workshops