Abstract

The shrimp industry plays a leading role in aquaculture development in Vietnam. Currently, the government is running a credit subsidy program to support farmers investing in improved production methods. This paper aimed to investigate white-legged shrimp farmers’ willingness to invest in improved production methods and to examine whether the current government policy for the sector is in line with farmers’ preferences using a discrete choice experiment. The results show that farmers do not care about the environmental impacts but emphasize increased yields and more successful crops as the main drivers of their willingness to invest. There is a mismatch between the current subsidized interest rate and farmers’ required interest rate. These findings suggest that to promote better investment in improved production methods, the government should focus on the regulatory framework, monitoring and control of environmental impacts, and reevaluate the size of the credit subsidy.

摘要

对虾产业在越南水产养殖发展中发挥着主导作用。目前，政府正在开展一项信贷补贴计划，以支持农民投资改进生产方法。本文旨在调查白腿虾养殖者投资改进生产方法的意愿，并使用离散选择实验检查当前政府对该部门的政策是否符合养殖者的偏好。结果表明，农民并不关心环境影响，而是强调增加产量和更成功的作物是他们投资意愿的主要驱动因素。现行补贴利率与农民要求利率不匹配。这些发现表明，为了促进对改进生产方法的更好投资，