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PERCEPTIONS OF RISK AND RISK MANAGEMENT IN VIETNAMESE CATFISH FARMING: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

2010; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 14; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/13657305.2010.526019

1551-8663

Tru Cong Le, Christopher Cheong,

Agricultural risk and resilience

Abstract Although Vietnamese catfish farming has grown at a rapid rate in recent years, the industry has also faced many problems that affect its sustainability. This paper explores the perceptions of catfish farmers regarding risk and risk management strategies in their production activities. The relationships between farm and farmer socioeconomic characteristics and perceptions of risk and risk management are also examined. Data for the study were collected in 2008 from a sample of 261 catfish farmers in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam using a questionnaire survey. The results show that, in general, price and production risks were perceived as the most significant risks. Farm management and technical measures were perceived to be more effective than other kinds of risk management strategies in risk reduction. Although price risks were rated as important, price risk management strategies were not perceived as important measures for risk mitigation. The results of the study are discussed to identify the implications for various industry stakeholders, including policymakers, processors, advisors, and developers of new risk management strategies. Keywords: aquaculturecatfish farmingrisk managementrisk mitigationrisk strategiessources of risk ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors wish to thank the Global Cities Institute, a research institute of RMIT, for its generous financial support for conducting the focus group workshop held in An Giang, Vietnam at the initial stage of this study. The authors also wish to thank Mr. Hua Quang Lap, Mr. Tran Anh Dung (An Giang Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD)), Mr. Nguyen Van Ngo (Dong Thap DARD), Ms. Le Thi Ngoc Dien (Can Tho DARD) and their staff for their tremendous support and help in organising the workshop and conducting the survey in the An Giang, Dong Thap, and Can Tho provinces. The authors are grateful to Mr. Tran Minh Tri and Mr. Doan Van Vuong of Nong Lam University for their assistance in organising the workshop and with data capture. The authors want to thank the numerous catfish farmers in the surveyed provinces for their time and effort in completing the interviews. Last but not least, the authors wish to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions in improving this manuscript. Notes a Factors 1 to 6 are: disease and environment; production; natural conditions; price and credit; legislation; and pond location. Loadings of ≥ 0.3 are in bold. a Factors 1 to 6 are: farm management; financial/liquidity; input quality; extension and education; disease prevention; and diversification. Loadings of ≥ 0.3 are in bold. '*', '**' and '***' denote levels of significance of 10%, 5% and 1%, respectively, for variables and models. a Measured as a dummy variable, where 1 denotes farms taking external technical consultancy, 0 denotes not taking technical consultancy. b Measured as a dummy variable, where 1 denotes large-scale farm, which has a total pond area of greater than 2 hectares. c Measured as a dummy variable, where 1 denotes medium-scale farm with a total pond area of between 0.5 and 2 hectares. d Measured as a dummy variable, where 1 denotes male farm head, 0 denotes female farm head. e White Consistent Standard Error and Covariance Estimation. f White statistics of the original regressions and numbers in parentheses are P-values. *, ** and *** denote variables and models significant at the level of significance of 10%, 5%, and 1%, respectively. a Measured as a dummy variable where 1 denotes farms taking external technical consultancy, 0 denotes not. b Measured as a dummy variable where 1 denotes large-scale farm, which has a total pond area of greater than 2 hectares. c Measured as a dummy variable where 1 denotes medium-scale farm, which has a total pond area of between 0.5 hectare and 2 hectares. d Measured as a dummy variable where 1 denotes male farm head, 0 denotes female farm head. e White Consistent Standard Error and Covariance Estimation. f White statistics of the original regressions and numbers in parentheses are P-values.