126 Kitojo Wetengere and Aubrey Harris
The application of feeds and fertilizers is a key factor in the success of
aquaculture business. Availability of good quality feed is required to hasten
the growth of the organisms. However, if most farmers were unable to feed the
recommended amount of locally available feeds, it is unlikely that they will
afford to buy good quality industrial feeds. So, targetting farmers who are able
to buy feeds and operate aquaculture as a business should be given due
emphasis. It should also be noted that the quicker aquaculture produce grows
and the bigger the size, the more preferred in the market and the more
profitable the product. Fertilization of fresh water fish ponds has a similar
impact on the growth and size of aquaculture products.
Relative Advantages of Aquaculture technologies versus Other
Competing Technologies
Aquaculture can contribute significantly to household food and income
security. However, there are other activities which compete with aquaculture
to meet those objectives. Household resources are allocated across various
activities based on their contribution to household food and income security.
For instance, milkfish, crab and sea cucumber farming competes with
livestock production and capture fisheries to meet animal protein intake. It also
competes with crop production, livestock production, capture fisheries and off-
farm activities to generate cash income. The decision whether to adopt,
continue or intensify aquaculture activities will depend on the relative
advantage of aquaculture against other competing production activities. The
key characteristics determining the choice of production activity include:
profitability, marketability, operation costs, immediacy of reward, complexity
and status. Of the six characteristics profitability, marketability, immediacy of
reward and risk are the most important in the development of aquaculture.
Wetengere and Madalla (2011) showed that aquaculture was ranked low
in all attributes. Fish from capture fisheries which aquaculture was intended to
reduce fishing pressure was ranked high in all attributes. It was not surprising
to see why aquaculture was performing poorly. This is similar to the field
findings undertaken by this review where aquaculture also did not perform
well in those attributes. Most participants depended on allowances and money
provided by the projects rather than benefits accruing from aquaculture.
Profitability: A main reason for undertaking aquaculture should be to
generate income. The underlying assumption in resource allocation is that
aquaculture will attract resources only if it is more profitable than the