The Covid-19 pandemic had devastating economic implications whose ripple effect cascaded from the production to the consumer in the supply chain. The movement restrictions adversely disrupted supply and demand chains. Although these disruptions were the primary impact of the pandemic, they had a negative ripple effect on aquaculture because labor immobility affected production. Subsequently, product shortages led to hyperinflation. Aquaculture economics has two overarching mainly profit optimization and cost minimization. The economic principles advocating for cost reduction and growth optimization are paramount for the thriving aquaculture industry. Although there are myriad approaches for achieving the two goals above, such as technology infusion into aquaculture and innovation, the pandemic-related disruptions adversely affected aquaculture supply chains making it challenging for aquaculture entrepreneurs to balance the aquaculture economic principles of cost minimization and gain maximization.
The acute product shortages made aquaculture farmers settle with the quality and prices available in the market, which occasionally compromised the quality and qualities of the aquaculture yield. The global economic disruptions affected the markets as aquaculture supply chains’ resilience, agility and sustainability were tested to the limit. Optimizing food conversion, water, food, power, processing and storage cost is a fundamental consideration in aquaculture economics discourses. Although aquaculture has consistently risen as a solution to food security challenges, economic challenges spanning environmental, financial and technological aspects adversely affect the sustainability of this nascent yet rapidly evolving food security trend. The cost consideration in making aquaculture decisions is paramount because entrepreneurs must balance the quality/quantity of the fish produced and the profit gained. The subject is complex due to the multidimensionality of the aquaculture economic concept affecting contemporary aquaculture practices amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
Achieving the two overarching economic goals was challenging due to the Covid-19 disruptions. This research explores aquaculture economics to demystify how aquaculture farmers can optimize gains and reduce costs by evaluating the pandemic’s effects on aquaculture supply and demand and key economic solutions for flourishing sustainable aquaculture. The study used a quantitative design. Twenty structured questionnaires on the effects of covid-19 supply and demand disruptions on aquaculture from an economic perspective were administered. This paper will demystify challenges associated with the Covid-19 disruptions to the aquaculture supply and demand chains from an economic perspective. The outcomes in this paper offer solutions and recommendations on how aquaculture farmers can deploy sound, economically-driven concepts to maximize gains, reduce costs and make aquaculture more sustainable, resilient, lean and agile to cope with similar future global disruptions.