AN ASSESSMENT OF PROFITABILITY IN WHITE LEG SHRIMP FARMING IN BALASORE DISTRICT OF ODISHA
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Date
2021
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DRPCAU, PUSA
Abstract
The present study aimed at analysing the profitability in shrimp farming and factors affecting shrimp production in Balasore district of Odisha. The study is principally based on primary data which was collected from 120 sample shrimp farmers from four blocks namely, Baleswar, Bahanaga, Baliapal and Remuna. The study revealed that majority of the respondents belonged to mature age group of 31-50 years (68.00 per cent) and used their own land for shrimp farming. A larger proportion of the families were nuclear (55 per cent) and small sized (41.67 per cent). Among the various caste groups, castes like general (33.33 per cent) and OBC (40 per cent) were observed to be mostly involved in shrimp farming. Most of the respondents were educated up to
secondary (36.67 per cent) and higher secondary (28.33 per cent) level. Nearly half of the respondents (47.50 per cent) had an experience of 5 – 10 years in white-leg shrimp farming. Most of the respondents followed the occupation mix-IV (37.50 per cent) which comprised occupations like shrimp farming, non-shrimp aquaculture and agriculture. Income from Shrimp farming was found to constitute 50-60 per cent of the household income and its share decreased with increasing size of holding. Experts of private companies were major source of technical information and commission agents were major source of credit. Farmers in the study area were observed to be practicing shrimp farming intensively (71.67 per cent) and semi-intensively (28.33 per cent). The estimated value of the initial capital required for starting shrimp farming business in one hectare area was around₹640166.50 and it was ₹ 725762.47 for small farmers, ₹ 64389.90 for medium farmers and ₹ 531437.67 for large farmers. Total cost incurred during crop 1 (Mar-June) was enumerated as₹1270739.26 per hectare and it was ₹ 1293792.78 per hectare, ₹ 1319872.01 per hectare and ₹ 1140039.30 per hectare for small, medium and large farmers respectively. However, the same for them in crop 2 (June-Sep) was₹1417079.86 for all farmers and it was ₹1469059.10 per hectare, ₹ 1463365.14 per hectare and ₹ 1258288.93 per hectare for small, medium and large farmers respectively. Gross income earned by shrimp farmers by culturing crop 1 in one hectare of land was found to be₹1856201.91 and it was ₹188331.14 for small farmers, ₹2000131.98 for medium farmers and ₹1711364 for large farmers respectively. In case of crop 2, overall gross income earned by shrimp farmers was ₹1693655.53 per hectare and that was ₹1726732.05 per hectare, ₹1721822.77 per hectare and ₹1619558.77 per hectare for small, medium and large farmers respectively. Benefit cost Ratio (BCR) on the basis of total cost was estimated to be 1.46 for crop 1 and 1.20 for crop 2 which indicated that both the crops are profitable. The study further revealed that factors like age, level of education of farmer, stocking density, quantity of supplementary feed used and survival rate positively and significantly affected level of shrimp production. It was observed from the study that inputs such as post-larvae and supplementary feed were underutilized and other inputs like labour, capital investment and expenditure on fertilizer and chemicals were over-utilized. Outbreak of disease and higher cost of inputs were major production constraints faced by farmers. However, fluctuation in the price of shrimp and difficulty in getting credit support from financial institutions were major marketing and financial constraints.