Socio-economic analysis of aquaculture groups in Hta Naung Wun Village and Shwe Baw Kyun Village in Shwebo Township, Myanmar

Myanmar is one of the largest fish producers in the world. In 2016, the country ranked eighth among the largest global inland aquaculture producers. Ninety percent of inland aquaculture in Myanmar is geographically concentrated in the Ayeyarwady Delta region, in lower Myanmar. Previous studies have indicated that aquaculture in Myanmar has the potential to grow with the improvement in production conditions, access to credit and post-harvest technologies. Given the promising conditions, intervention projects to develop aquaculture in the country such as Myanmar Sustainable Aquaculture Programme (MYSAP) are currently implemented. The Myanmar Sustainable Aquaculture Programme (MYSAP) is funded by the European Union (EU) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and is implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and the Department of Fisheries. WorldFish Myanmar is realising MYSAPs inland component under a GIZ grant agreement, with Ar Yone Oo, BRAC Myanmar and Malteser International as sub-contracted implementing partners. In order to reduce the deficit of information about aquaculture in regions different to the national cluster, the current study provides a general view of the current market dynamics faced by fish farmers in Shwebo township, Sagaing Region, as a contribution for the knowledge about aquaculture in Myanmar in regions where it has not been widely documented. To do so, this study implemented a qualitative explorative approach using content analysis based on grounded theory for the culture season 2018-2019. A total of 26 fish farmers and 5 key informants were interviewed in Hta Naung Wun and Shwe Baw Kyun villages, using structured questionnaires. Regarding the proportion of the fish harvested used for family consumption, this study found a difference of 5.2 percentual point on the quantity of fish used between the two villages. This study identified that processing companies bought 94.32% of the total fish traded in the study area during the last culture season. The main characteristic influencing the purchases made by the processor is the fish size, with a preference for fish at market size. This study found a gap between fish supply and demand, showing that 80% of the fish supplied do not correspond with the attributes demanded. Fish farmers reported production challenges that potentially limit the aim to produce fish at market size. The challenges reported in the surveys show limitations in access to fish feed and water supply. Exploring farmer-based perceptions regarding the importance of the role of MYSAP programme to the access, this study found that fish farmers gave the highest importance scores to the access to fingerlings and training, and the lowest scores to the access to fish feed and buyers. This study suggests encouraging collective actions among fish farmers in order to implement bulk purchasing, share used of equipment, improve the flow of information and coordinate harvest times, which might benefit fish farmers in the study area. In addition, to overcome the current challenges is important to coordinate with the local government