Adoption/Diffusion Research

Note: This Eighth Work Plan study did not commence until 1998 owing to the earlier unavailability of the principal investigators. It appears here for the first time.

Collaborating Institutions
Department of Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures
Auburn University
Leonard L. Lovshin

Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology
Auburn University
Upton Hatch

Department of Anthropology
University of Delaware
Norman Schwartz

Objectives
1. Determine technological, economic, and social factors that influenced the success or failure of rural, integrated fish culture projects in Panama and Guatemala.
2. Determine the role of women in the operation of the fish culture projects.
3. Determine the impact of the fish pond projects on the communities in which they are located.

Significance
PD/A CRSP has researched methods of improving fish production from small, family or community operated fish ponds to increase supplies of animal protein for 10 years. For the research information to have an impact on rural populations in developing countries, appropriate technology must be transferred from the research stations to the farmers. The impact of introduced technology is normally measured by an increase in fish yields at project termination. No measure of the sustainability of the introduced technology by pond owners 5 to 10 years after project termination has been published.

Fish culture technology introduced to farmers in Panama and Guatemala is similar to fish culture systems researched by PD/A CRSP. Reevaluation of pond projects in Panama and Guatemala will provide information on appropriateness of introduced technology and extension methodology, and socioeconomic influences on the sustainability of pond projects. Lessons learned will lead to improved technological packages and outreach methods to provide farmers with culture systems that are sustainable after project completion. Countries with PD/A CRSP projects as well as other third-world countries with rural aquaculture programs will be helped by this research.

Anticipated Benefits
The goal of PD/A CRSP is to improve animal protein sources to LDCs. Results of PD/A CRSP research must be transferred to farmers to increase fish protein supplies in developing countries. What are the elements that insure that new technology will be accepted and sustained by target farmers? What have we learned from past small-pond fish culture projects that will assist PD/A CRSP and host country governments to design appropriate research and outreach activities? Presently, PD/A CRSP is directing research toward limited-resource farmers interested in feeding their families and selling excess fish for cash. Reevaluation of fish culture projects with limited-resource farmers may demonstrate that research efforts should be targeted at resource-rich farmers who sell their entire crop for cash if fish supplies in LCDs are to be significantly increased.

Identification of Beneficiaries
N/A

Collaborative Arrangements
Norman Schwartz has a 9-month appointment with the University of Delaware and has agreed to work on personal contract with Auburn University during the summer of 1998 (see attached letter of agreement). Leonard Lovshin was the in-country coordinator of the Panama Project from June 1981 until June 1984. Norman Schwartz coordinated the studies on project impacts on the participating Panamanian communities and has worked and lived in Guatemala for numerous years working for USAID-funded projects. Upton Hatch visited Panama twice during the project and assisted with the economic evaluation. Preliminary contacts have been made with the government agencies in charge of aquaculture in Panama and Guatemala concerning reevaluation of their rural, small pond fish culture projects. Both agencies have given verbal agreement to participate in the projects. Final arrangements will be made when USAID accepts and funds the project.

Experimental Design:
1. Panama – Between 1980 and 1984, USAID, Auburn University, and the Government of Panama (GOP) cooperated on an integrated animal husbandry – fish culture pilot study. Twenty cooperatively managed, integrated fish culture projects were built and operating when the 3-year USAID-funded project ended. Technology employed was thought to permit participants to continue operation of their fish ponds after USAID financial support and the GOP extension effort was withdrawn. Enough baseline information was collected from 16 of the pilot projects to permit a detailed analysis of the fish culture strategies employed and the economic, nutritional, and social impact of these projects in their communities (L. L. Lovshin et al., 1986). The pilot projects will be revisited by the same principal investigators that worked on the projects in 1981 – 1984 to determine their success or failure in the 14 years since project termination.

2. Guatemala – Between 1982 and 1989, USAID, the Cooperative for American Relief Everywhere (CARE), U.S. Peace Corps, the General Directorate for Animal Husbandry (DIGESEPE) within the Government of Guatemala (GOG), and Auburn University worked together on the family fish pond project. More than 1,000 privately owned, hand-dug ponds were completed during the 7-year project. Some ponds were integrated with animal husbandry activities. Technology employed was thought to permit participating families to continue operating their ponds after project termination. Baseline fish production data were obtained from 230 ponds and economic data from 25 ponds (Castillo et al., 1992). Projects will be revisited by the U.S. and Guatemalan investigators to determine their success or failure in the 9 years since project termination.

US investigators together with host country cooperators (HCC) will spend two weeks visiting regional aquaculture extension offices and communities where pond projects are located to rapidly appraise project outcome and reasons for success or failure. In Panama all the pond projects will be reevaluated. In Guatemala 50 randomly selected family fish ponds will be visited. Where possible, fish production data will be collected and up-to-date production costs obtained. At this time, US investigators and HCC will work together to develop the Spanish language questionnaire that will be used to survey project participants.

HCCs will perform in-depth interviews with project participants to further our understanding of the technological, economic, and social reasons for project failure or success. Wives of male participants will be interviewed to determine their roles in the fish pond projects. HCC interviewers will spend 4 to 6 weeks collecting information in project communities after initial contact with project participants is made together with US investigators. Data will be computer analyzed in the US and budget analyses will be performed to compare the profitability of fish ponds upon project completion with present profitability based on updated fish yields and costs. Measures to determine why projects succeeded or failed are:
1. Are project ponds filled with water, stocked, and actively managed?
2. Are Panamanian ponds still cooperatively managed or has management drifted into the hands of one family?
3. Are project members able to produce their own fingerlings or are they purchased from private producers or the government?
4. Are the governments able to provide extension assistance?
5. Are the projects still integrated with animal husbandry activities?
6. Are harvested fish consumed by project or household members or sold?
7. Is male or mixed-sex tilapia culture predominant?
8. Has tilapia culture spread to neighboring households and communities as a result of the initial project?
9. Do projects continue to be profitable?
10. Do women play a predominant role in the operation of the fish ponds?

Identification of Deliverables
N/A

Schedule/Time Line
Panama and Guatemala will be visited in June, 1998 and questionnaires completed during the summer of 1998. Both countries will be visited on the same trip in 1998 instead of separately as suggested in the original proposal.

Final Report Submittal
Data will be analyzed and a final report containing results from Panama and Guatemala will be prepared by December 31, 1998, by U.S. and host country investigators. A manuscript based on the Panama and Guatemala studies will be submitted for publication by June 30, 1999.

References
Castillo, S., T.J. Popma, R.P. Phelps, L.U. Hatch, and T.R. Hanson, 1992. Family-scale fish farming in Guatemala. Alabama Agricultural Experimental Station, Auburn University, AL, R. and D. Series No. 37.
Lovshin, L.L., N.B. Schwartz, V.G. de Castillo, C.R. Engle, and L.U. Hatch, 1986. Cooperatively managed rural Panamanian fish ponds: the integrated approach. Alabama Agricultural Experimental Station, Auburn University, AL, R. and D. Series No. 33.