Success Stories In Asian Aquaculture - Library - Network of ...

4 Backyard Hatcheries and Small Scale Shrimp and Prawn Farming in Thailand77mirror imaged the trends of the past with commodities such as salmon andchicken.4.5 Key Factors for the Success of Small Scale OperatorsIn fact, the success of backyard hatcheries and small scale shrimp/prawn farmersmore generally must be seen as part of a dynamic process involving continual adaptationto solve new problems. To be the leader in global shrimp production is noteasy, but to keep this position for more than 20 years is even more difficult. Thesesmall scale farmers played a very significant role in maintaining this coveted status.They were able to survive during crises through which large scale operators couldnot. The key factors for their success include the following.4.5.1 Key People and OrganizationsFarmers always have new ideas for development or modification, and are eager toexperiment on their own. This is similar to the success of fruit, rice, and orchidfarming in Thailand. Due to the long experience in aquaculture, particularly freshwaterspecies and extensive marine shrimp farming, Thai farmers are able to copevery well with advanced technologies. Shrimp culture technology was mainlytransferred among farmers from lead farmers who were the more innovative initialrisk takers. It has been proven that shrimp culture technologies were rapidly transferredby observation and enthusiastic learning mostly from more experiencedfarmers, than through the government extension services. For instance, DOF budgetfor information and training is only 7.2% of total DOF budget (Table 4.2 ) or 0.38%of total shrimp ex-farm value, or 0.30% of total export value.Nevertheless, government has an important role in areas, such as in research anddevelopment, regulating the industry, improving infrastructure (e.g. water sources),as well as providing many free services (disease diagnosis, diatom stocks, water andTable 4.2 Budgetary allocations of the Thai Department of Fisheries (DOF) 2008Item US $ %Research and development 15,332,024 18Information and training 6,155,827 7.2Rural aquaculture 4,935,960 5.8Quality control 26,926,481 31.7Fisheries control 8,721,464 10.3Stock enhancement and resource improvement 22,602,196 26.6Other 305,411 0.4Total 84,979,363 100