Aquaculture America 2024

February 18 - 21, 2024

San Antonio, Texas

YOUTH ENGAGEMENT IN AQUACULTURE DEVELOPMENT: THE ROLE OF FARMER’S AGE ON AQUACULTURE PRODUCTIVITY, PERFORMANCE, AND EFFICIENCY

Md. Emran Hossain a,*, Madan Mohan Dey a, Md. Akhtaruzzaman Khan b

a Department of Agricultural Sciences, Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas-78666, USA.  Email: emranaerd@gmail.com

a Department of Agricultural Finance and Banking, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Bangladesh.



 

The involvement of youth in aquaculture not only can decrease the unemployment rate but also optimize the development of aquaculture, thereby making a significant contribution to both food security and economic success within the nation. Hence, the present study aims to investigate the extent of youth involvement in aquaculture and analyze the variations in aquaculture productivity, performance, and efficiency based on the age of farmers in Bangladesh. Furthermore, we also examine the connection between the farmers’ age and their productivity, profitability, and efficiency levels. To accomplish the aim of this research, data was gathered from a sample of 183 farmers engaged in carp fish production in the five primary aquaculture-producing regions of Bangladesh and data was analyzed using the Stochastic Frontier Analysis. The findings of the study indicate that approximately one-third of the farmers are young in the study areas. The productivity of young farmers was 7.19% higher than middle-aged farmers and 19.46% higher than old-aged farmers. In addition, young farmers seem to be more efficient than aged farmers while farmers aged between 36 and 50 years are most technically efficient.  In addition, productivity exhibited an upward trend as the age of farmers grew to a specific threshold (about 40 years). However, after this point, productivity showed a decline with further increases in age. Moreover, it is seen that there is an initial gain in technical efficiency until the age of 45 years, after which there is a subsequent drop in efficiency as age continues to advance. Furthermore, younger fish farmers have a lower yield gap and yield loss in comparison to their older counterparts.  For sustainable aquaculture development, the government needs to promote aquaculture entrepreneurship among young people that can provide  a continuous flow of income by employing cutting-edge technologies.