Fish farming systems diversity and implications in the Republic of Benin: Fish farm types and their economic performance

Abstract

Fish farming is promoted in the Republic of Benin to meet the demands of fish consumption and increase exports to neighbouring countries. Targeting fish farm policy interventions to increase the efficiency of heterogeneous fish farming systems is a challenge. Farm type delineation allows for simplifying the diversity in fish farming systems. Multivariate statistical techniques combined with the Calinski and Harabasz pseudo F statistic and bootstrapping were applied to determine the realistic number of fish farm types. Four fish farm types were identified and characterised based on farm intensity, species diversification, and the management capacity of operators. Furthermore, profits and both labour and capital productivity increased continuously from the extensive fish farms to the semi‐intensive farms. They also vary widely within farm types across the country. These farm types may be supported by appropriate fish farming promotion policy interventions. Most importantly, training programs must be tailored to each farm type to strengthen the technical and managerial capacity of the fish farmers.