empirical typology of brackish-water pond aquaculture systems in the Philippines: a tool to aid comparative study in the sector

• Published in: Aquaculture economics & management 2007-01, Vol.11 (2), p.171-193
• Main Authors: Stevenson, James R, Irz, Xavier T, Alcalde, Rose-Glenda, Morrisens, Pierre, Petit, Jean
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: brackish water; Chanos chanos; farm inputs; farming systems; fish culture; fish farms; fish ponds; fish production; Penaeus monodon; Philippines; ponds; principal components analysis; shrimp culture; variable inputs
• ISSN: 1365-7305; 1551-8663
• DOI: 10.1080/13657300701370358

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.