Technical Efficiency of Small Scale Fish Farming in Kiambu County
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Date
2015
Authors
Yegon, Kiplagat Benard
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
Fish production systems in Kenya are still under developed with the yields hardly
exceeding l.Ockg/mvyear. The farmers in the Country are reported to be producing
between 0.05- 1.04kg/m2/year as compared to 3 to 5kg/m2/year that the Fisheries
Research Institutions recommend. This necessitated analysis of the level and
determinants of technical efficiency in small scale fish farming in Kiambu County. A
structured questionnaire was administered to a total of 94 small scale fish farmers that
were randomly selected from six sub-counties out of the 12 sub counties of Kiambu
County. A Cobb-Douglas stochastic production function was used to estimate the level
of technical efficiency using Maximum Likelihood Estimation method. The predicted
farm specific technical efficiency ranged between 0.1847 and 0.9537 with a mean of
0.4115. The study revealed that fish feed, size of the pond and fertilizer application
were statistically significant in the production of fish in the study area. Based on these
findings the farmers needs to increase the size of the fish ponds, access quality
fingerlings, fish feed and fertilizer in the right proportions. The age of the farmers,
education level, farming experience and access to extension services affected technical
efficiency negatively. On the other hand household size and access to credit services
influenced technical efficiency positively. Male operated fish farms were found to be
more technically efficient than female run farms. The government needs to improve
extension coverage to many farmers to address simple farming anomalies such as
excess utilization of feed and inaccessible yield improving technologies. Policy should
be suggested to be directed to encourage the entrepreneurs in fish farming to access
credit facilities to improve on their fish farming. The government should also
encourage the most educated and young population to take up fish farming husbandry
and not leave it to the old age farmers.
Description
A research project submitted to the school of economics in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of masters of economics (finance) degree at Kenyatta University