Research Projects
Marketing and Economic Analysis Research

Subcontract No. RD010A-01

Staff

University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Arkansas

Carole Engle	US Co-Principal Investigator, Project Leader
Siddhartha Dasgupta	US Co-Principal Investigator
Ivano Neira	Graduate Research Assistant (Peru; from January 2000; CRSP funded)
Diego Valderrama	Graduate Research Assistant (Colombia; through June 2000; CRSP funded)

Asian Institute of Technology, Pathumthani, Thailand

Harvey Demaine

Host Country Principal Investigator

Escuela Agrícola Panamericana El Zamorano, Honduras

Dan Meyer

Host Country Principal Investigator

Background

The Continuation Plan 1996–2001 envisioned a broader involvement of social scientists in the PD/A CRSP. The intended impact of CRSP research is greater economic and social returns to farmers who adopt CRSP-developed technologies. Quantifying those returns is one goal of Ninth Work Plan research. Reaching a better understanding of risk and farmers' perception of risk is valuable in developing and encouraging the adoption of technologies and is the focus of one Ninth Work Plan investigation. As production increases as a result of CRSP research, markets must be developed to keep pace with increasing supply. The development of domestic markets for tilapia in Honduras is the focus of another investigation.

Work Plan Research

The following Ninth Work Plan investigations continued into the current reporting period:

• Development of Central American markets for tilapia produced in the region/9MEAR3. The report submitted for this investigation was a progress report.
• Economic and social returns to technology and investment in Thailand/9MEAR4. The report submitted for this investigation was a progress report.

Networking

In August, CRSP researcher Carole Engle traveled to Honduras, where she consulted with Dan Meyer from the Escuela Agrícola Panamericana El Zamorano (Zamorano), about the design of a marketing study and about recruiting a graduate student to assist with the project. She also met with Carlos Leyva of Aqua Corporacion to discuss the marketing study. Engle has already received two requests from Honduras for copies of the marketing report. She has also networked with Agnes Saborio and Julio Castaneda, who are assisting with the design and implementation of surveys in Nicaragua.

Engle has maintained correspondence with Nelson Omar Funes Fuentes, the individual who was contracted to complete the marketing surveys in Honduras. Fuentes hopes to attend graduate school at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB). To help him attain the required proficiency in English, Engle arranged for him to attend an intensive English training program in the US in October.

Engle continues to provide assistance to shrimp farmers in Honduras on a variety of economic issues. This is an outgrowth of shrimp economics work conducted under the Eighth Work Plan. The researchers continue to field email requests for information. They are commonly queried about information on markets for tilapia.

Educational Outreach

Graduate student Diego Valderrama presented several lectures on economics and risk analysis of shrimp farming in Honduras. The lectures were for both undergraduate and graduate students taking aquaculture economics and marketing classes at UAPB. He used data and analyses from his own thesis to illustrate points in the lectures.

Publications

Dasgupta, S. and C.R. Engle, 1999. Non-parametric estimation of returns to investment in Honduras Shrimp Research. In: B.W. Green, H.C. Clifford, M. McNamara, and G.M. Montaño (Editors), V Central American Symposium on Aquaculture. San Pedro Sula, Honduras, pp. 201–203.
Valderrama, D., 2000. Economic analysis of shrimp farming in Honduras. M.S. thesis, University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff, Arkansas.
Valderrama, D. and C.R. Engle, 1999. Risk analysis of shrimp farming in Honduras. In: B.W. Green, H.C. Clifford, M. McNamara, and G.M. Montaño (Editors), V Central American Symposium on Aquaculture. San Pedro Sula, Honduras, pp. 236–239.
Valderrama, D. and C.R. Engle. Risk analysis of shrimp farming in Honduras. Aquacult. Econ. and Manage. (in press)

Presentations

Dasgupta, S. and C.R. Engle. Non-parametric estimation of returns to investment in Honduras Shrimp Research. Presented to the V Central American Symposium on Aquaculture at San Pedro Sula, Honduras, 17–20 August 1999.
Valderrama, D. A risk programming model for shrimp farming in Honduras. Presented to the Tenth Biennial Conference of the International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade (IIFET 2000) at Corvallis, Oregon, 10–13 July 2000.
Valderrama, D. and C.R. Engle. Risk analysis of shrimp farming in Honduras. Presented to the V Central American Symposium on Aquaculture at San Pedro Sula, Honduras, 17–20 August 1999.
Valderrama, D. and C.R. Engle. Risk analysis of shrimp farming in Honduras. Presented to Aquaculture America 2000 at New Orleans, Louisiana, 2–5 February 2000.

Conferences

V Central American Symposium on Aquaculture at San Pedro Sula, Honduras, 17–20 August 1999. (Engle)
PD/A CRSP Annual Meeting at New Orleans, Louisiana, 31 January–2 February 2000. (Engle, Valderrama)
Aquaculture America 2000 at New Orleans, Louisiana, 2–5 February 2000. (Engle, Valderrama)
Tenth Biennial Conference of the International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade (IIFET 2000) at Corvallis, Oregon, 10–13 July 2000. (Valderrama)

Awards

Diego Valderrama received a plaque and check for one of the best student abstracts submitted to Aquaculture 2000 by the US Aquaculture Society for his paper "Risk Analysis of Shrimp Farming in Honduras."

Valderrama won Best Graduate Student Paper in the School of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Human Sciences at the March 2000 UAPB Research Forum for the paper entitled "A Risk Programming Model for Shrimp Farming in Honduras."

Valderrama also received an honorable mention for his paper "A risk programming model for shrimp farming in Honduras" in the Best Student Paper award competition at the IIFET 2000 conference.

Development of Central American Markets for Tilapia Produced in the Region: Potential Markets for Farm-Raised Tilapia in Honduras

Ninth Work Plan, Marketing and Economic Analysis Research 3 (9MEAR3)
Progress Report

Carole Engle, Ivano Neira, and Diego Valderrama
Department of Aquaculture and Fisheries
University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff
Pine Bluff, Arkansas, USA

Abstract

Three surveys were conducted in Honduras from September through December 1999. A random sample of restaurants and a census of supermarkets and fish markets were conducted in the major urban areas and in selected small rural towns. Descriptive analyses of the restaurant and supermarket surveys are attached; the descriptive analysis of the fish market vendor survey is nearly complete. Quantitative analyses of the survey data have been initiated. Similar surveys are scheduled to be conducted in Nicaragua from August through October 2000. Descriptive and quantitative analyses will also be conducted with the Nicaraguan survey data.

Economic and Social Returns to Technology and Investment in Thailand

Ninth Work Plan, Marketing and Economic Analysis Research 4 (9MEAR4)
Progress Report

Siddhartha Dasgupta and Carole R. Engle
Department of Aquaculture and Fisheries
University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff
Pine Bluff, Arkansas, USA

Abstract

The first phase of this study was to conduct an analysis of the economic tradeoffs associated with PD/A CRSP–developed technologies in Thailand using secondary data. This paper outlines conditions under which a small-scale tilapia producer in Thailand chooses among four PD/A CRSP–developed technologies: low-intensity inorganic fertilization (inorganic technology), organic fertilization with collected chicken manure (organic technology), organic fertilization in layer-fish integrated ponds (integrated technology), and high-input green water (HIGW) technology using intensive inorganic fertilization treatments. A mixed-integer programming (MIP) model of annual operations of a small-scale Thai tilapia farm was developed and used to attribute technologies to the production ponds based on maximization of net income. Eleven scenarios were developed that were based on the advantages of each of the four technologies. Results of this first-phase analysis will provide important insights into the key relationships to be explored in the survey data collection phase. The following progress report presents the results of the analysis conducted in Phase I and a draft of the survey instrument to be used in data collection in the second phase (a draft of this survey may be obtained from the PD/A CRSP).