J Egbodion

The catfish industry in Nigeria faces significant challenges including high production cost, low productivity, and limited profitability. Despite its potential, the industry has not fully explored the use of concrete pond for catfish production which could improve efficiency and reduce costs. This study investigated the socio-economic characteristics, profitability, and technical and allocative efficiency of concrete pond catfish production in the Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State, Nigeria, and identified key constraints faced by farmers. Data were collected from 113 concrete pond catfish farmers and analyzed using descriptive statistics, net profit analysis, and the Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) model. Socio-economic analysis revealed the enterprise is dominated by economically active males (62.83%) with a mean age of 44 years. A significant majority of farmers (69.91%) possess tertiary education, and 74.34% engage in full-time catfish farming. The cost and return analysis confirmed that concrete pond catfish production is highly profitable, yielding an average net profit of ₦599,386.39 and a strong Return on Investment (ROI) of 2.49 per production cycle, demonstrating high financial viability. The technical and allocative efficiency analysis showed that 95.28% of farmers operated at >90% efficiency, with a mean technical efficiency of 94.46%. However, the overall Returns to Scale (RTS) was -7.4534, indicating that the enterprise operates in an economically irrational region (Stage III) of production due to significant resource overuse. Technical efficiency was positively and significantly influenced by stock density and quantity of fingerlings, but negatively by fuel usage. Allocative efficiency was positively affected by the cost of fuel, feed, and fingerlings, but negatively by labor costs and depreciated fixed costs. Inefficiency models showed that increased age and pond size decreased allocative inefficiency, while increased experience, household size, and income increased technical and/or allocative inefficiency. The major constraint identified was the high cost of feed (Mean = 3.98), followed by disease outbreaks and theft. The study concludes that while concrete pond catfish production is highly profitable, there is an urgent need to address resource overuse to move production into the rational efficiency stage. Recommendations include promoting optimal stocking density, investing in high-quality fingerlings, and providing targeted training to enhance feed and labor management, ultimately ensuring the long-term sustainability and profitability of the sector.

The catfish industry in Nigeria faces significant challenges including high production cost, low productivity, and limited profitability. Despite its potential, the industry has not fully explored the use of concrete pond for catfish production which could improve efficiency and reduce costs. This study investigated the socio-economic characteristics, profitability, and technical and allocative efficiency of concrete pond catfish production in the Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State, Nigeria, and identified key constraints faced by farmers. Data were collected from 113 concrete pond catfish farmers and analyzed using descriptive statistics, net profit analysis, and the Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) model.