Management and technological practices in Amazonian fish farms: A case study in the Southeast of Pará

Abstract

Consumer exigencies demands that fish farmers use technological advances to increase the product standards and quality, involving better management and productivity levels. Aiming to investigate the technological practices of fish farming in the Amazon region, in this study, we performed an explanatory factor analysis (EFA) of data from a survey conducted with fish farmers in the southeast region of Pará state. The EFA model grouped the technological variables in four factors. We then normalized factors scores for each subject in each factor to construct an index of technological practices adoption (ITA) to determine the most used or the most neglected technology in terms of adoption by fish farmers. In addition, we performed a linear regression to identify the most influential variables that interfered with technological adoption. The Southeast Amazon region has a great potential to expand fish farming, however most fish farmers have adopted few technologies that are aimed at improving production. The results of ITA demonstrate that most fish farmers in Amazon do not use the recommended technological practices for the activity, as 85% percent of them were classified as low or very low in terms of technology adoption. Small-scale farmers are more likely to adopt management practices than large farmers. In large properties, fish farming is understood as a secondary activity, with cattle ranching being the predominant economic activity, in contrast, small-scale farmers invest more in technology because fish farming is their primary activity. For a long-term development strategy, both small and large farmers need greater technology adoption, thus establishing innovation networks and developing continuous mechanisms of resilience, which are still absent in the current sector.