Determinants of fish farmers’ welfare in brackish water pond culture in Indonesia: fish farmer terms of trade index

Abstract

The present study was designed to estimate fish farmers' welfare and determine the factors that affect it. Fish farmer terms of trade (FTT) index and Tobit regression were applied on this purpose. Data from 200 fish farmers were collected with the cross-sectional technique. Results indicated that the FTT index value was 1.49, suggesting an adequate prosperity of fish farmers’ average population. Moreover, results also showed that education, pond age, pond type, giant tiger prawn, Indian white prawn, speckled shrimp and milkfish variables are significantly associated with the FTT index. The fish farmers' welfare can be improved by providing education facilities, through incentives for recovering old age pond and by policy interventions promoting the adoption of the brackish water culture technologies