4 - Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture

National Workshop-cum-Training on Bl~lnformatiu and Information Management in Aquaculture
2003). Kolleru Lake (16O 32' and 16O 47'N latitude and 81° 5' and 81° 2l'E
longitude) is the largest freshwater wetland ecosystem located between the
major perennial rivers Godavari and Krishna in South India. It is 955 sq. km at
3.8 m msl contour level. Water depth in the lake varies between 1 and 2.5 m for
most of the year and reaches a maximum depth of 3 to 4 meters during high
floods and is reported to very productive for aquaculture with favourable
temperature ranging between 18-49OC. There are 122 villages in the lake area
having a population of nearly two lakh and the majority of them all fishermen
community. Primary occupation of the villagers is aquaculture and fishing.
Reports are available on lake flora and fauna, integrated development,
ecodevelopment, fisherman population, fisheries, eutrophication and disease
(Chacko et.al 1952; Murthy 1973; Dutt, 1976; Seshavatharam and Dutt, 1978;
Ramakrishnan, 1980; INCOR, 1983; Reddy and Suryanarayan, 1983; Rama Rao,
1986-88; Ghosh et a/., 1990; Gopal Krishnayya and Lal, 1990). Further,
documents covering research on physico-chemical properties, limnological
aspects, biodiversity, geography, ecology, capture and culture fisheries,
environmental qualities, status of freshwater aquaculture, strategic management
plans, heavy metal concentrations in fishes, pesticide and insecticide pollution;
government's crackdown order breaking fish tanks (Anjaneyulu, 2003;
Padmavathi and Prasad, 2003; Rama Murthy and Swamy, 2003; Vidyanath,
2003; Rao, 2003; Khasim and Rao, 2003; Rao and Padmaja, 2003; Ramani and
Anjaneyulu, 2003; Rao and Reddy, 2003; Rao, 2003; Sarangi et a/., 2004 and
Madhavi, 2005) are also available. A report highlighting the technological
changes of Kolleru Lake area covering pond construction and renovation, weed
control, application of fertilizers, species combination, stocking density, use of
supplementary feed, biomass and disease checking and control, harvesting, live
fish transport, marketing and market spread, impact of technological changes on
employment generation, growth of ancillary industries, environmental impacts,
education, operational economics is available (Anon, 2002). Scientific studies on
statistical and econometric aspects like development of sampling frame, statistics
of carp culture, socio economic aspects, economic performance of aquaculture,
factor share, database on socioeconomic aspect, farm size aquaculture
productivity relationship, break even analysis, marketing channel are also
available (Roy et dl., 2002; 2001 a; 2001 b; 2002 b; 2004 a; 2004 b; Sahoo et
a/., 2000; 2001 a; Saradhi etal. 2002; Roy etal., 2006).
In recent years, Farmers of Kolleru Lake area have intensified their effort
towards aquaculture and as a result demand for natural resources like water,
land and seed have increased. This phenomenon might have adverse
environmental effects which may affect sustainability. Under that situation,
enhanced production through improvement of technical efficiency may lead to
sustainable production and consistent supply, through efficient use of resources
and productivity at farm level. Therefore, it is necessary to measure technical
efficiency (TE) at farm level, to identify important factors responsible for efficient
production process. TE may be estimated either through parametric (frontier
analysis) and nonparametric methods (DEA). A review of literature reveals that
estimation of technical efficiency applying frontier analysis is very limited in
aquaculture sector in India (Jayaraman, 1998) and abroad (Sharma and Leung,
1998; Sharma and Leung, 2000 a, b; Dey et a/. 2000; Iinuma et a/. 1999). The
present study is aimed at measuring the technical efficiency and also to
estimate the impact of socio-economic and farm specific variables on technical
efficiency of carp farms of Kolleru Lake area.