Management and Economics (30 ECTS)

ii Since 1997, development of white leg shrimp farming in Vietnam has attracted considerable attention due to its high export potential. Therefore, it is now necessary to assess the annual efficiency performance of white leg shrimp farms in order to improve Vietnam’s aquaculture policy. This paper based on a character sample of 61 white leg shrimp farmers in Khanh Hoa province, representing about 13.2 % of such farmers in Khanh Hoa, Vietnam. Using an output-oriented VRS Data Envelopment Analysis, the standard efficiency was measured and then regressed to the farmer characteristics and production environment to identify the determinants of technical efficiency for those farms. The empirical results suggest that socio-economic factors such as education and experience are positively related and experience more significance than education, to the efficiency of white leg shrimp farmers. Some environmental factors, such as more distance from a channel, imply worse results for efficiency in white leg shrimp production. Financial factors, such as the proportion of total costs relative to total income