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Economics of alternative catfish production technologies

2018; Wiley; Volume: 49; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/jwas.12555

1749-7345

Ganesh Kumar, Carole R. Engle, Terrill R. Hanson, Craig S. Tucker, Travis W. Brown, Lisa B. Bott, Luke A. Roy, Claude E. Boyd, Matthew S. Recsetar, Jeonghwan Park, Eugene L. Torrans,

Water resources management and optimization

The US catfish industry has shown increasing trends toward intensification of production as a means of achieving cost efficiencies on farms. Previous studies depicted the potential for cost efficiencies in alternative technologies such as split‐pond systems, intensively aerated ponds, and in‐pond raceway systems. This study provides an economic comparison of these systems under a uniform set of economic assumptions using a standard enterprise budget analysis. Cost of production of hybrid catfish raised in these systems ranged from $2.03 to $2.91/kg, the highest cost being that of in‐pond raceways and the lowest from split ponds. Positive annual net cash flows from split‐pond systems and intensively aerated ponds were sufficient to make the investment profitable. Cumulative effects of high investment cost (high annual fixed costs), poor survival, and lower yields from the in‐pond raceway systems made it economically infeasible. However, the feed conversion ratio (FCR) was the best among these technologies. Risk analysis showed stochastic dominance of intensively aerated ponds and split‐pond systems over in‐pond raceway systems. Variations in catfish price, yield, and FCR were the major contributors to economic risk. Implementing combinations of intensively aerated ponds and split‐pond systems should be viewed as a strategy to respond to production and market needs.