Challenges in the Era of Globalization - iaabd

Challenges in the Era of Globalization
Edited by Emmanuel Obuah
variable measuring the size of fish harvested increases profitability. Other variables including hiring a
pond manager, membership to a farmer group, access to extension services, record keeping, average pond
size and number of fingerlings have no significant influence on profitability.
Table 3: Factor Affecting the Profitability of Fish Production in Central Uganda
Dependent variable = Profit (US$)
Variable Coefficient Std. Error t-value
Constant -2.526 1.59 -1.59
Average pond size (m 2 ) -0.041 0.11 -0.37
Number of fingerlings stocked -0.087 0.10 -.85
Hiring a pond manager = 1, 0 otherwise 0.049 0.20 0.25
Membership to a farmer group=1, 0 otherwise 0.249 0.28 0.90
Access to extension services=1, 0 otherwise 0.174 0.23 0.76
Record keeping (1=yes, 0 otherwise) 0.011 0.22 0.05
Fish farming experience (years) 0.334** 0.13 2.57
Number of fish harvested 0.968*** 0.13 7.36
Average price of a unit of fish (US$) 1.007*** 0.21 4.75
Average size of fish harvested (kgs) 0.273** 0.14 1.92
Adjusted R 2 = 0.768
F-Statistic = 22.87***
***, and ** are significant levels at 1% and 5% respectively
Constraints Facing Fish Farmers
Fish farmers reported many constraints during the fish production process. Fish predators were reported
to be the most serious constraint to fish production as reported by 51 percent of the respondents (Table 4).
Many farmers were found not to protect their fish thus the problem of predators that ranged from birds, to
snakes and other wild animals. Scarcity of feeds came second as another serious constraint leading to high
cost. This finding is in agreement with the findings of Ocmer (2006) and Ugwumba and Chukwuji (2010)
that reported high cost of feeds as a very serious constraint to fish production. The other constraint that
seriously affected the farmers was lack of capital. Fish farming is a capital intensive enterprise thus
requiring big capital investment for reasonable profit to be made (Ugwumba and Chukwuji, 2010). This
could explain the reason why more than half of the respondents (66 percent) had less than three ponds.
Poor quality fingerlings were another serious problem facing farmers as reported by 22 percent of the
farmers. Many farmers complained of poor fingerlings which in some cases did not grow to the farmers
expectations. This result supports the earlier findings of Isyagi (2007) that established that a third of the
farmers considered access to fish seed as a serious constraint.
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