Economic analysis of trout feed production in Jammu and Kashmir, India

The Present study is an attempt to understand the economics of trout feed production in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Trout feed production is capital intensive business which requires high initial capital investment. The results revealed that major fixed investment required in trout feed production was feed mill itself which accounted about 71.44 percent of the total investment. The cost and return analysis showed that the variable cost accounts 59.16 percent whereas fixed cost accounted 40.84 percent of the total cost respectively. Among the variable cost raw material was found out to be single most important factor which accounted about 56.37 percent of the total cost which was about 95.28 percent of the total variable cost. The average cost of production of trout feed was Rs.84.33/kg which ranged from Rs.78.45/kg in Kokarnag trout feed mill to Rs.90.2/kg in Manasbal trout feed mill but government has fixed selling price at Rs.73/Kg for the feed to maintain reasonable price level for private trout farmers. The availability and high price of raw material were found to be major constraints faced by feed producers. Economics analysis revealed that both the feed mills are operating at suboptimal level and there is need to utilize the feed mill to its full potential and export the surplus production to neighbouring state of Himachal Pradesh and other Himalayan states like Sikkim and Arunachal which will help the state fisheries department to generate extra income which can be used in other developmental activities

Comparative analysis of profitability and resource use efficiency between Penaeus monodon and Litopenaeus vannamei in India.

The study aimed to highlight the profitability and production function analysis of Penaeus monodon and Litopenaeus vannamei in intensified shrimp farms in Gujarat (India). Two hundred and twenty (220) shrimp farm households were used to identify (principal component and cluster analyses) 8 clusters of management practices that reflected various scales of production intensity ranging from 0-2999 kg/ha/crop to 9000kg/ha/crop and above for both the species. The Cobb-Douglas production function, which relates production output to several independent input variables, was used to determine productivity. The budgeting analysis for both the species showed that more intensively managed farms performed more than the less intensive farm. Empirical results show feed as most significant input for Penaeus monodon and Litopenaeus vannamei seed and labor that affected production. Average net returns/ha/year for Penaeus monodon was $16313.13 and for Litopenaeus vannamei$41640.99. Aquaculture exhibited decreasing returns to scale for both the species and estimates on resource use efficiency revealed that in Penaeus monodon the resources were economically utilized and in case of Litopenaeus vannamei the output was likely to increase if more of seed and less of labor would have been used. The major constraint for the shrimp farmers was diseases which can be mitigated by optimum stocking densities and proper feed management