AN EMPIRICAL TYPOLOGY OF BRACKISH-WATER POND AQUACULTURE SYSTEMS IN THE PHILIPPINES: A TOOL TO AID COMPARATIVE STUDY IN THE SECTOR

Abstract

Aquaculture in the Philippines is long-established but has witnessed rapid technical change in the last 20 years with the introduction of hatchery technology and commercial feed mills changing the production possibilities for a fishpond operator. To understand the sector, a typology of brackish-water pond farming systems is constructed using multivariate methods (principal components analysis, cluster analysis). Eight input variables across all major factors of production are used in the analysis, gathered from a net sample of 136 farms in two regions in 2003. Three latent variables are described, accounting for 58% of variance in the original data: specialization; land vs. labor intensity; and feeding intensity. Five clusters (farm types) are subsequently described: extensive polyculture (40% of sample); semi-intensive prawn-oriented polyculture (11%); low-input labor-intensive farms (27%); very large, extensive milkfish-oriented farms (8%); and semi-intensive milkfish monoculture farms (14%). Implications for technical efficiency estimation and comparative study of economic indicators are discussed.

Keywords:

• chanos chanos
• penaeus monodon
• farming systems
• Philippines
• variable inputs
• principal components analysis

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This research was funded by the Department for International Development Aquaculture and Fish Genetics Research Programme (DFID-AFGRP). The authors gratefully acknowledge help or comments from a number people during fieldwork and in the development of this manuscript, in particular: Raphael D. Guerrero; Kristine-Joy Lapitan; Clarissa Rubio; Jurgenne Primavera; James Muir; Joel Aubin; Tahir Rehman; Kai Lorenzen; Roger Pullin; Portia Villarante and Arnold Tanoy. However, any errors are the responsibility of the authors. The authors would like to thank all the Filipino aquaculture operators and caretakers who gave their time and knowledge so willingly during data collection.

Notes

Lab-lab is the Filipino term for a dense mat of microbenthic organism communities, composed of algae and diatoms, that rests on the pond floor (Sumagaysay-Chavoso & San Diego McGlone, 2003).

Lumot is the Filipino term for filamentous algae.

Please note that this research has no connection to Oxfam GB.