Economics of Fish Farming In Imo State, Nigeria

Abstract

The primary objective of the study was to identify an appropriate fish production system necessary to ensure efficient resource utilization in fish farming in Imo State. The sample size comprised 31 fish farmers who were randomly selected and interviewed. The results of the analysis show that the net returns were N143348.64 and N 3833.82 for extensive and intensive systems respectively. The sum of the production elasticities (1.245) show that the farmers experienced increasing returns to scale. The results of the production function analysis revealed that farmers in the extensive system are both technically and economically more efficient than farmers in the intensive system. It was concluded that the extensive system is a better production system than the intensive system.

Key words: Fish farming, economic efficiency

Journal of Agriculture, Forestry and the Social Sciences Vol.2(1) 2004: 40-46