Risk-Taking
and Decisionmahing
Patterns of resource use within
developing-country communities usually
reflect the decisions of large numbers of
households and small groups, in addition
to individuals, as individual needs are
generally satisfied through small group
relationships. However, there isgenerally
considerable variation in microeconomic
behavior, which is caused in large part by
the differential use of and access to
renewable resources, as well as by
perceptions that influence risk-taking and
decisionmaking in social and economic
activities (Johnson 1972; Rutz1977;Ruddle
1984).
Most small-scale farmers plant a
combination of crops, or may opt to include
a fishpond within their operation, to spread
risk. But, as in tropical agroecosystems,
combinations of crops, livestock and fish
also ensure the exploitation of a range of
available ecological niches on a farm, as
well as providing a balanced household
food supply, thereby also enhancing
household food security. Thus,
distinyishinga singlemotive withrespect
to farming systems and the decision to
diversify operations by adding new
elements is a complex problem.
The productive activities of most
developing-country rural households
consist ofseveral complementary economic
activities that together provide a balance
of subsistence goods. Commonly, small-
scale fishing, animal husbandry, hunting
and collecting of forest products are the
economic complements of cultivation. In
integrated systems of agriculture-
aquaculture, some of these components
are tightly fitted within a single system.
Thus an evaluation of risks is made with
respect to multiple activities and not just
a dominant one. An innovation, such as
aquaculture, will not be adopted if it is
perceived as unduly risky to household
basal subsistence.
Diversification of sources ofhousehold
income has also been a traditional risk-
spreadingdevice. Thus, for example, small-
scale farmers are not uncommonly either
part-time or seasonal fishers.
Opportunities to earn complementary,
supplementary or totally alternative
sources of income have been enhanced by
urbanization and by the industrialization
and commercialization of economies. The
relative stability of such non-agricultural
sources of income adds greatly to the
opportunity cost of small-scale farming
and, ironically, exacerbates risk by
destabilizing the age and gender balance
of rural labor supply. This is offset,
however, where incomes earned in those
other sectors are used to finance small-
scale farming or to mitigate the risks
inherent in adopting an innovation such
as aquaculture (Laan 1984).
Where seasonality of rainfall is
pronounced most agricultural labor inputs
are concentrated within a typically short
four-month growing season. Thus
agricultural labor productivity is limited
by the amount of indispensible tasks that
can be performed during that limited time
period. Risk is introduced by the physical
ability of available labor to undertake the
tasks - the incidenceofillness andinfirmity,
age and gender, among other factors - and
by both the capacity to hire labor and the
availability of additional labor.
Aquaculture development schemes that
threaten this delicate balance by virtue of
either labor demands or increased
opportunity cost of labor are unacceptable
to most rural communities in developing
countries.
Farm household decisionmaking
ranges from very deliberate problem-
solving to automatic, subconscious
behavior, basedinlarge part on traditional
teaching and community norms. In
developing nations, most tend toward the
latter type (Simon 1957). Moreover, most
decisionmakers apparently prefer to follow