| Author | Kaing Khim |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.RD-01-04 |
| Subject(s) | Pond aquaculture--Cambodia--Lower Mekong Delta
|
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of
Science, School of Environment, Resources and Development
|
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Small-scale aquaculture development practice has been initially promoted and
implemented by the Rural Extension for Aquaculture Development (READ) Project since
1998 in three provinces, namely Kanda!, Prey Veng and Takeo, in the Lower Mekong
Delta of Cambodia. In the first phase, the project intended to develop and introduce the
appropriate small-scale aquaculture technologies in the target area. The expected output of
the project was to produce fish for home consumption from fish farmers' own ponds after
two years of adoption. Cunently, the project has reached the stage of completing the first
phase and it is desired to conduct an evaluation research for understanding the effects of
this small-scale aquaculture development practice. Therefore, this research was undertaken
in the project target area focusing on both project assisted and non-project fish farmers.
The findings showed that socio-economic status of fish farmers are identical in both the
groups of fish farmers characterized by low household income and persistence of poverty.
Fish culture practices were successfully adopted with the recommended technologies by
both project and non-project faimers, and spread widely in the study area. The economic
analysis of aquaculture indicated that fish culture generated two times higher benefit to
project assisted farmers than the non-project farmers. Despite the fact that the major
sources of household income were not so significantly changed after engaging in fish
culture. However, significant change in household secondary occupation structure was
found due to the high consideration of the fish farmers in accepting aquaculture as their
secondary job. The fish production was mainly for family consumption, this more than half
of total average food expenditure has been relating to fish reduced. It was also found that
more than sixty percent of the total fish production has contributed to the family food
security for the minimum requirement of fish-eating people at 22 kg/capita/year.
Furthermore, it was revealed that pond size, survival rate, feeds and farmers' commitment
were significantly important factors affecting the fish production.
The findings of the study also indicated that the extension strategies used for driving
aquaculture development practices by the project was found to be effective, highly
satisfying to the project-assisted farmers. It showed that the aquaculture technical
knowledge of project-assisted farmers tend to be better than non-project farmers due to the
regular provision of technical support and extension services to the project-assisted
faimers. The farmers' attitude has also been changed towards aquaculture adoption.
Moreover, the results also indicated that the factors explaining the success of fish culture
are social and economic factors determined by farmer' attitude, perception and profitable
of fish culture; production technology factor influenced by the appropriate technology use
for stable production; institutional factor explained by adequate support services; and
environmental factor emphasized on potential area for fish culture. The main reason of
discontinuing fish culture practice by the first trial project farmers was due to flooding.
The major issues considered by fish farmers are the inadequate water supply for fish pond
and fish seed supply in the local area, poor technical knowledge of non-project farmers,
lack of marketing network for fish culture, and the lack of capital to buy fish seed.
Recommendations are made to improve. Strategy is formulated for intensification of
aquaculture promotion and development in the target areas as well as in other district and
provinces of Cambodia.
The lesson learned and experienced gained through this research may be utilized for the
betterment of the project activities in helping rural poor in Cambodia.
|
| Year | 2001 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Rural Development, Gender and Resources (RD) |
| Chairperson(s) | Routray, Jayant K. |
| Examination Committee(s) | Soparth Pongquan ;Wickramanayake, B. W. E. |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Norwegian Agency for Development Co-operation
(NORAD) |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2001 |