Summary

This report has provided a socioeconomic profile of tilapia culture in four Pond Dynamics/Aquaculture Collaborative Research Support Projects ( PD/A CRSP ) countries. One of the signal contributions of this study is the cross-national comparative data obtained from fish farmers across the globe. A common interview guide and data matrix provide an initial framework for contrasting and understanding the practice of tilapia culture. Similarities in technology and approach to aquaculture also can be counterpoised to the great differences in market receptivity, price, and dietary role of tilapia in each country. The findings illustrate the diversity of institutions, farm situations, and market conditions where tilapia are grown and consumed. Readers of this report should have a more comprehensive grasp of the meaning of tilapia as a livelihood, the institutional structures that provide research and extensions support, and the diverse roles the tilapia enterprise plays in various farming systems.

In particular, the data examined here complement experimental and biological information about how tilapia are grown and used. The findings show how farmers feed their fish, who they sell them to, and what kinds of problems they are experiencing. Farmer attitudes toward tilapia farming and the role of tilapia production within the four PD/A CRSP countries were examined by asking them to compare aquaculture with other farm activities. Operators were consistently favorable in their perceptions of tilapia culture on such dimensions as cash income potential and general attitude toward the enterprise.

Farmer attitudes toward aquaculture also reveal their perception of overall viability of tilapia culture. Such qualitative measurements, in effect, ask farmers to rank the profitability and resource efficiency of each of their farm production activities. Farmers generally felt that tilapia was the best use of the land occupied by the pond.

Results of this study also suggest that tilapia mean different things to different segments of the farm operator population. Clearly the wealth or income level of the grower enters into the amount of capital investment and risk to be undertaken. Off-farm employment and life cycle considerations also play a role in determining the production strategies employed and the kinds of benefits individuals seek from the fish culture enterprise.