Farmers’ Perceived Risks and Risk Management Strategies in an Emerging Mussel Aquaculture Industry in Denmark

Abstract

The study was carried out in the Tarai area of Uttaranchal state to (i) identify the sources of risks perceived to be relevant by the farmers, (ii) examine farmers' risk attitude, (iii) identify the factors th at affect risk attitudes and (iv) evaluate the relative importance of different risk management strategies. Adverse effect on family health was perceived as a major source of risk by the dairy farmers, indicating the crucial role that surplus family labour plays in dairy farming in India. Lack of institutional support in dairying was also perceived to be a major source risk. Farmers' risk attitude was measu red using an attitudinal scale approach. The attitudinal scale consisted of a series of different risk management strategies and the farmers' attitude was measured by his rating of each of those strategies. The analysis establishes a refined 22-item scale that can be applied by researchers to measure the risk attitude of dairy farmers in Indian context. The refined scale has high degree of reliability as farmers' responses to the items of the scale revealed a communal variation of 85%, which is higher than the minimally acceptable range of 65% to 70%. The study furth er revealed slight degree of risk aversion among farmers as revealed by the adoption such risk management tools like vaccinating the animals, calling a veterinarian, prevention of illness, maintaining hygienic conditions, and feeding adequate concentrates. Hence, there is a strong tendency on the p art of the farmers to mitigate the production risks at farm level by adapting appropriate measures.But, a certain degree of risk taking behaviour was also seen in regard to certain risk management tools, especially livestock insurance. Regression analysis to ascertain relationship between socio-econom ic factors with risk attitudes, revealed largely insignificant influence of the variables considered in the study . Herd size and hours spent in off-farm work showed negative and significant impact upon the risk attitude score. Number of dependents showed significant and positive relationship with the total score. The variables included in the study explained 54.5 per cent of variation in risk attitude score. As regards to relative importance of different risk management tools, carrying adequate cash reserve was cited by the farmers as relevant, which is against the general perception that Indian farmers, mostly being subsistent can not afford to ho ld cash reserve to meet future crisis.

Mussel Production and Water Framework Directive Targets in the Limfjord, Denmark: an Integrated Assessment for Use in System-Based Management

“…At present, 18 mussel farms are in production. Each license covers 250 x 750 m² (~19 ha) but mussel farmers try to exploit economy of scale through cooperative solutions and the effective average farm size is 34 ha (Ahsan and Roth 2010).…”

“…Støttrup, unpublished manuscript). External input into the economic component for aquaculture included new data on labor optimization and profit maximization (Ahsan and Roth 2010). External input to the mussel fishery component included account statistics, temporary closures of the mussel fishery due to HAB events (summer) and a low meat content (winter), quotas, and numbers of licenses.…”

“…However, during stakeholder meetings it became clear that substituting mussel fisheries with farming is not viable as few stakeholders are involved in both production types. Furthermore, economies of scale are restricted by the size of plots licensing system and an expressed reluctance by both farmers and investors to raise sufficient capital under the present risk conditions (Ahsan and Roth 2010). The economic contribution to the formal economy from this sector is therefore at present negative.…”

Mussel Farming and Its Potential in the Baltic Sea

“…Deep analysis of perceived opportunities and pursued strategies in an emerging industry has been done in the case of Norwegian Blue Mussel farming (Ottesen & Grønhaug, 2004). Analysis of mussel farmers' perceived risks and development and application of risk management strategies in the emerging mussel aquaculture industry in Denmark was performed and published by researchers Ahsan and Roth (2010). The results of extensive socio-economic analysis and aspects of stakeholder involvement in mussel-farming in the Gulf of Trieste are published in scientific paper and discussed __________________________________________________________________________ 2017 / 30 41 in academic environment (Canu & Solidoro, 2014).…”

Risk Factors Affecting the Profitability of the Mediterranean Mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialisLamarck 1819) Farming in Greece

“…Recent efforts to study the risk perceptions of the aquaculturists in various countries determined institutional risks as a major source of risk and, in some cases, as the most important risk sources of the activity, such as in Norway with the salmon industry (Bergfjord 2009), France with oyster farming (Le Bihan et al 2010, Le Bihan et al 2013, Vietnam with catfish (Le & Cheong 2010), Denmark with mussel farming (Ahsan & Roth 2010), and Bangladesh with shrimp (Ahsan 2011). In Greece, with Mediterranean mussel aquaculture, we investigated how farm size (directly dependent on the licensing system) works as a source of institutional risk and how to mitigate the adverse effects of this risk by providing risk management solutions.…”