Research Projects
Marketing and Economic Analysis Research

Subcontract No. RD010A-18

Staff

Auburn University, Alabama

Upton Hatch	US Principal Investigator, Project Leader
Jose Falck	Postdoctoral Research Associate

Background

Research under this subcontract will determine profitability and risk indicators for various aquaculture systems developed by the CRSP in Honduras, which will be used to make a rapid determination of whether a particular tilapia production strategy is likely to be profitable, easy to implement, and associated with acceptable levels of risk. In doing so, this study addresses several socioeconomic constraints to the development of more sustainable aquacultural systems identified in the Continuation Plan 1996–2001, specifically, inadequate attention to economic analysis of production; poor understanding of investment, markets, and risk reduction; lack of attention to efficient resource utilization; and barriers to assimilation of technological innovations through extension and training.

Work Plan Research

This subcontract was awarded funding to conduct the following Ninth Work Plan investigation:

• Rapid economic evaluation tools/9MEAR5. The report submitted for this investigation was a progress report.

Note: The schedule for 9MEAR5 has been modified. Please see Appendix 5, "Completion Dates for Work Plan Studies," for revised schedule information.

Rapid Economic Evaluation Tools

Ninth Work Plan, Marketing and Economic Analysis Research 5 (9MEAR5)
Progress Report

Upton Hatch and Jose Falck
Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology
Auburn University, Alabama, USA

Abstract

A demonstration of the first prototype of a rapid decision economic evaluation tool is presented. We performed an economic evaluation of two tilapia production technologies in Honduras: 1) chemical fertilization (CF) and 2) fertilization followed by supplemental feed (FSF), published by CRSP researchers in Honduras. The demonstration's initial results agree with the Honduran results in that the FSF treatment has a higher net income than the CF treatment. In addition, results from our prototype program indicate that the FSF treatment is associated with a lower risk of losing money in the short run.