The impact of aquaculture field school on farmers’ shrimp and milkfish yield and income in Demak, Central Java
Widowati LL, Ariyati RW, Rejeki S and Bosma RH.
Successful training of traditional farmers to adopt new methods can have rapid and scalable benefits in many aquaculture settings. Widowati et al. followed the production performance of a group of 125 traditional milkfish and shrimp farmers in Indonesia after a 16-day field training in aquaculture teaching Low External Input Sustainable Aquaculture (LEISA), during one growing season . They determined the increase in milkfish and shrimp yield and calculated the economic benefits of training. Adopters of LEISA practices have shown a three-fold increase in shrimp yield and an increase of nearly US$1,000 per hectare per year in economic return. The payback time for the $1,060 course was less than a year, and the overall rate of return for the adopters surveyed was around 1.8. The results clearly indicate the benefits of low-cost training in dramatically increasing the economic return of this group of farmers who make up almost 80% of the production area in Indonesia. By quantifying these benefits, the authors clearly show an economic value of training and indicate how overall agricultural productivity can be increased nationwide through simple and scalable vocational training activities that benefit the environment.
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Bioeconomic modeling of oyster farming in Miyagi prefecture, Japan
Kamiyama R, Miyata T and Takahashi H.
Kamiyama et al. studied Japanese marine aquaculture, particularly oyster farming in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, through the development of a bioeconomic model. Bioeconomic models can be particularly useful in aiding management decisions, especially during periods of high-impact change, such as temperature extremes and instability caused by climate change. The authors developed three scenarios in their model. These reflected the prevailing low, moderate and high temperatures. The models showed that the profitability of oyster farms could be increased by an early harvest starting in late October or early November. High temperatures have reduced the benefits of agriculture compared to current conditions, indicating a likely economic impact of climate change-induced temperature increases. Overall, the economic model and final scenarios provide a baseline for successful management of the industry to support new investments and developments to adapt to changing economic and climatic realities.
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Acceptance of insect meal in aquaculture feed: a stakeholder analysis for the Italian trout and sea bass supply chains.
Mulazzani L, Madau FA, Pulina P and Malorgio G.
The use of meal from various candidate insect species as a replacement for fish meal in aquaculture diets has been proposed and promoted for many years. The authors of the present study investigated the acceptance by potential users of insect meal in the diets of two European aquaculture species of great interest. The results indicated that a direct economic valuation primarily related to the cost of feed and its effect on growing animals is complemented by a different set of considerations, which relate to the needs of operating and business models. specific. The results show that farmers, feed producers and insect producers must take into account the final destinations of the products, the requirements of large retailers, the practicalities of processing, digestibility and the production of solid waste. These are important in addition to the more obvious aspects such as feed price, feed conversion rate, and feed performance variability. Barriers to insect meal acceptance are, on the one hand, predictable and very much tied to industry-wide feed quality parameters. On the other hand, specific customer requirements play an important role and must be addressed individually in order to ensure market penetration.
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Effect of a phytogenic feed additive on growth performance and immunity of Pacific whiteleg shrimp, Litopenaeus vannameifed a diet low in fishmeal.
Kesselring J, Gruber C, Standen B and Wein S.
Offsetting the negative effects of high levels of fishmeal replacement in shrimp feed promises to improve the environmental and economic performance of shrimp farming worldwide. In their recent study, Kesselring et al. were able to improve the growth performance of Litopenaeus vannamei fed with only 5% fishmeal by supplementing a phytogenic feed additive based on aromatic plant extracts. The inclusion of 0.4% of the photogenic product improved the growth and immune response of shrimp compared to those fed a control diet. Supplementation improved overall growth performance in animals fed a diet formulated with 24% fishmeal during the same two months. The integration of such additives into formulated shrimp diets will allow for the future inclusion of alternative proteins at higher levels, resulting in economically and environmentally more viable shrimp diets for global aquaculture.
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