TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY OF SHRIMP PRODUCTION IN KIAMBA, SARANGANI PROVINCE

The study was conducted to determine the factors affecting the technical efficiency of shrimp production in Kiamba, Sarangani Province. It was carried out through personal interview by total enumeration of 8 shrimp growers. Respondents were interviewed using a personal structured questionnaire. Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) model was used to identify the factors affecting the technical efficiency of shrimp production and the Ordinary Least Square Method to determine socio-economic characteristics. Meanwhile, descriptive analysis was used to explain the result of socio-economic characteristics and farm management practices of the shrimp growers.

The result of the study shows that most of the growers were males at middle ages and already married with 10 years and below experience in shrimp farming. Some of them does not have contact with extension workers, and most were members of organizations that also attended the training. The majority of the growers had a total farm size of 1 to 4 hectares with 3,000 square meter ponds. They almost have the same farm management practices, applying chemicals before stocking and drying ponds after harvesting, doing water treatment by liming and aeration for oxygen circulation. The majority of them used broadcasting as feeding management. Start to harvest at 60 days and end at 90 days of shrimps life. Most of the problems they encountered were skin lesions, and big fish. It is concluded that the feed cost, labor cost, area of pond, and number of shrimps were the factors that significantly affect the efficiency of shrimp production in the study area. Also, among the socio-economic factors age and farming experience significantly affected the technical efficiency of shrimp production. Lastly, shrimp production is a profitable business. It is recommended that shrimp growers should attend more training, observe and practice proper feeding management and efficiently use quantity of fry, encourage to join shrimp grower organizations, and government intervention on extension programs at the farm level are needed to support shrimp farmers in utilizing their resources more efficiently in order to greatly boost their shrimp yield.