Socio-Economic Analysis of Fish Farming in Andoni Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria

The socio-economic analysis of fish farming in Andoni Local Government Area of Rivers State was studied. Structured questionnaire was administered to 150 respondents in randomly selected 10 communities. The data obtained were analized using descriptive statistics, budgetary and profitability analysis. The results revealed that the average mean age, household size and farming experience were 65.5 years, 15.5 persons and 12.4 years respectively. About 66.67% of the fish farmers joined the business for profit and 67.33% used borehole as their source of water. The result also showed that total cost (TC) of N6,73,500 was incurred by respondent per season while total revenue (TR) of #6,840,000 was reached with a return gross margin (GM) of #2,920,000 and a net farm income (NFI) of 109,500, benefit cost ratio of 1.016 and rate of return of 0.016. This result clearly showed that fish farming/aquaculture is a profitable venture in the study area. The study also showed that insufficient labour, inadequate processing/ storage/ preservation facilities, high cost of fish feed among others were the problems militating against fish farming in the area. Considering the profit derived from fish farming in this study, it could be deduced that fish farming is a lucrative business in the study area and that Government should motivate the respondents in the area