Can environment management integrate into supply chain management? Information sharing via shrimp aquaculture cooperatives in northwestern Sri Lanka

Abstract

This paper examines the effects of information sharing via community cooperatives on supply chain management (SCM) in community-based shrimp aquaculture in northwestern Sri Lanka. Further, it identifies how environment management integrates into SCM. The paper examined shrimp aquaculture operations in northwestern Sri Lanka using the case study approach. Main actors of the shrimp aquaculture supply chain (SC) are: brood-stock suppliers; hatcheries; farmers; collectors; and processing companies. Information shared is: post-larvae prices; feed brands; harvest prices; production quotas; disease spread; farming techniques; and management practices. This paper explores the existing information sharing network. Its findings reveal that community cooperatives play crucial roles within this network while functioning under a mixed governance regime (private; communal; government). Membership gives farmers a mechanism for networking and accessing information. This article discusses how such information can act as commons. An efficient network of information sharing is vital for the community's socio-economic wellbeing, as well as social-ecological sustainability. Sri Lankan shrimp aquaculture exemplifies SCM that integrates environment and commons management.