Technical efficiency of Fishers under the condition of water hyacinth infestation: Evidence from Lake Tana fisheries, Ethiopia.

ABSTRACT

Measuring technical efficiency plays a magnificent role in identifying the possible sources of productivity gain with the existing fish resources and technologies. However, there is no any efficiency study that has been conducted in the study area. Because of this gap, the causes, magnitude and possible solutions for the inefficiency of fishers have remained unknown. Thus, the paper aims to estimate the level of technical efficiency (TE) and its determinants in the fishery of Lake Tana. To address these objectives, data from 367 randomly selected fishers were collected using a multi-stage random sampling procedure. A Cobb Douglass functional form with a single-stage estimation procedure was employed to estimate the level of TE and its determinants simultaneously. The study reveals that the level of TE among sampled fishers varied from 13.5 % to 91.2 %, with a mean TE of 70.8 %. The prevailing TE level and the average yield gap of 6.46 kg per trip per fisher, substantiate the potential for improving (by 29.2 %) the current volume of fish production, with the existing fishing technologies. In addition, fishers who are situated around water hyacinth infested areas are technically less efficient (68.7 %) compared to the non-infested areas (72.9 %). The efficiency level was positively influenced by factors, such as training and marketing site. Whereas, number of non-fishing months and distance from home to the Lake were the hindering factors for the efficiency. The study confirms that no fishers in the study area are operating at their full potential and this could have a short-run implication for the substantial improvement of fish catch without additional input and technology.