Contribution of fish farming to the socio-economic status of fish farmers in Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study determined the contribution of fish farming to the socio-economic status of fish farmers in Oyo State. A multistage sampling procedure was used to select the respondents resulting in a total number of 120 fish farmers used for this study. The primary data for this study was collected using an interview schedule which was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results revealed that the major constraint to fish farming was lack of access to credit facilities and the contribution of fish farming to the socio-economic status of fish farmers was high. At 0.05 level of significance, significant relationships exist between the respondents age (r=0.389, p=0.004), household size (r=0.286, p=0.002), years of experience (r=0.298, p=0.001), benefits (r=0.279, p=0.002) and their socio-economic status. Chi-square analysis of the result shows that there was significant relationship between marital status (χ2=5.835, p=0.023) and socio-economic status. Based on these findings, the study recommended that credit facilities should be made available to fish farmers and conventional feeds should be available to users at a reduced rate.