| Author | Tep Saravy |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no. AS-97-04 |
| Subject(s) | Aquaculture--Cambodia--Kandal
|
| 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 |
| Series Statement | Thesis ; no. AS-97-04 |
| Abstract | Fish is a basic component of the diet of the Cambodian people, but in the recent years the per caput availability of fish declined drastically, owing to a decline in natural fish production due to increasing population pressure. An attempt is being made to promote small scale aquaculture to farmers in Kandal Province by the SAO Cambodia Integrated Aquaculture on Low Expenditure Project (SCALE), which was commissioned by an NGO, Southeast Asian Outreach (SAO) and the Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture. This study interviewed 104 households to identify types of small scale aquaculture & management practices, constraints, opportunities, and farmer perception of aquaculture introduced by the SCALE Project in Kandal province Cambodia.
There were two groups of respondents in relation to involvement in aquaculture: non fish farmers and fish farmers. For fish culture systems, the study was divided into pond fish and rice fish culture systems. Fish farmers were classified by experience into "experienced" farmers who farmed continuously for more than 1 year, "former" farmers who previously had cultured fish but were not doing so during the survey, and "new entrant" farmers who began to culture fish during the year of the survey.
The adoption of fish culture was related significantly to the number of men in the household aged from 20 to 50, and the educational level of the household head, No water body, lack of labour for pond digging and capital were also factors which restricted adoption of fish farming. The decline in wild fish production did not always stimulate the development of aquaculture, but support for fish culture system construction and attractive output were the major factors influencing starting and continuing fish culture. Beside the flood disaster, disappearance of stock without reason, water shortage/low water retention capacity and predation by wild fish emerged as constraints in development of aquaculture. The first requirements for non fish farmers was support in pond digging; for experienced, former fish and new entrant fish farmers was quality seed. After adoption of fish farming other occupations seem to be remained the same as fish farming was only a subsidiary job to supplement household consumption. Farmed fish production was not significantly different between ponds and rice field systems, although extrapolated gross yield for the pond fish culture system was highly significantly higher than for rice fish culture system. Farmed fish production was positively significantly related to the level of rice bran and organic fertilizer application only. Use of inorganic fertilizers to fertilize fish culture systems remained to be promoted. Among three fish species promoted to the farmers, common carp has the highest daily grow rate but had the lowest survival rate, tilapia has the highest survival rate and silver barb had the lowest daily grow rate. the rice field was a good fish culture system without a high nutrition input requirement, if the density of stocked fish and the combination of stocked fish species were appropriate. Angsnourl district was the only suitable area for promotion of concurrent rice fish culture because it rarely flooded during the monsoon season unlike other district and the soil had a high water retention capacity. Small-scale hatcheries still not yet been promoted at farm level. The main type of fish culture was grow-out although nursing fry was done be few fish farmers. |
| Year | 1997 |
| Corresponding Series Added Entry | Asian Institute of Technology. Thesis ; no. AS-97-04 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources (Former title: Department of Food Agriculture, and BioResources (DFAB)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Agricultural and Aquatic Systems(AS) |
| Chairperson(s) | Edwards, Peter; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Demaine, Harvey ;Tinsley, Richard; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Danish International Development assistance(Danida); |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1997 |