Impact of government empowerment schemes on the growth of aquaculture in Delta State, Nigeria

Abstract

The impact of several government empowerment schemes on beneficiaries have been scarcely reported in Nigeria. This study determined impact of government empowerment schemes on the growth of aquaculture in Delta State. A two-stage sampling procedure was used to pick the respondents for the study. A total of 119 farmers responded in the study. Results show that majority (75.6%) of the fish farmers in the study area knows about empowerment schemes, out of which only about 41.2% have participated in one scheme or another. About 8.4% benefited through trainings/enlightenment programmes, 3.4% through provision of fish feed, 1.7% financial assistance and 0.8% subsidized fish feeds. Most of the beneficiaries also had increased scale of production (34.5%), improved production system (36.1%), improved quality of culture facilities used (33.6%), increased number of culture facility used (35.3%), number of fish harvested per pond (36.1%) and increased average weight of fish harvested per pond (36.1%). Most fish farmers know about the schemes but fail to participate due to delayed transmission and execution of the schemes leading to inadequate faith in the programmes, not enabling the farmers accept accessed information on the schemes. It is therefore, recommended that governments should avoid delays in implementing these schemes so that the fish farmers have faith and participate in the programmes.