Homestead fish farmers' production profile in Osun state, Nigeria.

Abstract

Homestead fish farming in the Nigeria is carried out by small scale operators in small fresh water ponds.It is increasingly becoming a popular way for people to raise their own source of edible fish right in their backyard. Despite the efforts towards Agricultural development in Osun State, the fishing industry is still in a poor state. The study therefore investigated the production pattern of fish farmers. Multistage random sampling was used to obtain the sample for the study. Osun State Agricultural Development Programme (OSSADEP) zoned the state into four zones, namely, Osogbo, Ife, Ijesha and Iwo. Osogbo and Iwo zones were purposively selected due to the high concentration of homestead fish farming in the zone. Snow ball technique was used to generate a list of two hundred and twenty six homestead fish farmers from which ninety percent of the homestead fish farmers in each zone were randomly selected for the study. The result shows that majority (93%) of the respondents were between 21 and 60 years, while the mean age is 42.19 years, male (89.3%) and married (82%).Twenty three (23%) take the homestead fish farming as their primary occupation., 81% of them had more than a secondary school education. More than half (78.7%) of the respondents practice either the semi intensive or the intensive culture system, while only about 21.3% of them admitted useing the extensive culture system. Almost half (45.3%) of the respondents have pond size not more than 200 m2, while only 13% had above the 600 m2.Annual income from homestead fish production has a significant relationship with production (r= 0,000≤0.05), Significant relationships exist between culture system, (X2=0.027≤0.05),( pond type, X2=0.025≤0.05frequency of occurrence of diseases(X2=0.029≤0.05 and production. The culture system, significant relationships exist between culture type, (X2=0.023≤0.05) pond type,(X2=0.000≤0.05), frequency of occurrence of diseases (X2=0.003≤0.05), and productivity. Significant relationships also exists between finance (X2=0.028≤0.05), skilled manpower ,(X2=0.030≤0.05) and production.. Homestead fish farmers in Osun state is also characterized by a high level of use of improved fish farming techniques and improved technologies.This has a significant and positive effects on the production of homestead fish farmers in the study area.

Key Words: Fish Production, Homestead