Socio-economic factors critical for intensification of fish farming technology. A case of selected villages in Morogoro and Dar es Salaam regions, Tanzania

Abstract

Intensification of farm technologies has shown high potential in improving farm production and enhancing rural food and income security. Intensification, however, is commodity-specific with high-value crops intensively produced. Farmed fish is one of the high-value crops introduced in the study area to meet the above ends. The problem, however, is that the level of intensifying fish farming technology has been very low leading to discouraging results. A study was conducted in Morogoro and Dar es Salaam Regions, Tanzania, to identify socio-economic factors that influence the intensification of fish farming technology. Data were collected from 234 respondents randomly sampled from 25 selected villages and were analyzed using multinomial logistic regression model. Results indicated that age, extension education, profitability, marketability, risk, palatability and easiness to obtain farmed fish were significant in explaining the intensification of fish farming technology. Three recommendations emerge from this finding. First, there is need to provide extension education to the practicing farmers on various aspects of fish farming. The probability of intensifying fish farming is higher for knowledgeable farmers. Second, technology developers should strive to reduce the risk of farming fish and improve the profitability and marketability of farmed fish. Finally, any analysis focusing on intensification of a fish farming technology should not confine itself to agronomic and socio-economic characteristics but should also encompass food characteristics of the technology. Food variables such as palatability and easiness to obtain farmed fish have been shown to influence the intensification of fish farming technology.