Abstract

Shrimp polyculture is an important activity in South East Asia, providing a livelihood and food for small-scale farmers. However, farmers are facing challenges due to increasing environmental problems in rivers used as the primary source of water in aquaculture pond production. To deal with these challenges, farmers have organized co-management communities, which gives them a stronger voice among river users. This study investigates the effects of co-management on technical efficiency and environmental stressors using a second-stage Data Envelopment Analysis model. Environmental stressors are identified through interviews with 306 farmers in eight sub-districts, of which two are practicing co-management. The results show that farmers in areas with co-management have relatively high technical efficiency after taking other drivers into account. Furthermore, the farmer’s technical efficiency seems to be less affected by the identified environmental stressors. In conclusion, co-management could be used as a tool to improve technical efficiency and limit stress factors for farmers. It could be initiated by the farmers themselves or by policymakers and natural resource managers and could improve the livelihoods of small-scale shrimp polyculture farmers.

摘要

虾混养是东南亚的一项重要活动，为小农提供生计和食物。然而，由于河流作为水产养殖池塘生产的主要水源，越来越多的环境问题导致农民面临挑战。为了应对这些挑战，农民组织了共同管理社区，这使他们在河流使用者中拥有更强大的发言权。本研究使用第二阶段数据包络分析模型调查共同管理对技术效率和环境压力源的影响。通过对 8 个街道的 306 名农民的访谈确定了环境压力源，其中两个正在实行共同管理。结果表明，在考虑其他驱动因素后，共管区农民的技术效率相对较高。此外，农民的技术效率似乎较少受到已确定的环境压力因素的影响。总之，共同管理可以用作提高技术效率和限制农民压力因素的工具。它可以由养殖者自己发起，也可以由政策制定者和自然资源管理者发起，并可以改善小规模对虾混养养殖者的生计。