PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT OF GIANT FRESHWATER PRAWN BUSINESS FOR GROUP FARMER BASE ON GOOD AQUACULTURE PRACTICE (GAP) IN YANGTALAT, KALASIN PROVINCE

Abstract

          This article focused on the production management, the aspects of production, cost, benefit, problem and obstacles of giant fresh water prawn group standardized by the GAP in Yang Talat district, Kalasin province. The number of purposive sampling was 30 giant water prawn household in Buaban 1 group that pass Good Aquaculture Practice (GAP) standard through questionnaire. The data was analyzed in term of frequency, mean, percentage and standard deviation.

          The results found that: the average age of the farmers is 59.7 years old with 18.4 years of experiences in giant fresh water prawn business. The total number of the farms is 135 farms, in the total area of 229.3 Rai, which averagely equals to 7.64 Rai per farm. For the production management, the prawns will be bred 2 times a year for 6 – 8 months each round before selling. The average fixed cost for each batch is 3,232.95 Baht, the agricultural productivity is 19,940.00 kilograms per batch, averagely is 86.96 kilograms per Rai, which can be sold for 270 Baht per kilogram. Therefore, this can be concluded that the benefit for each batch of the sample are the total average income of 23,479.20 Baht per Rai and batch, and net average income of 23,057.90 Baht. For problems and obstacles are found as follows: low quality and expensive breed, higher fodder cost, lower sufficiency, market competitors, and low selling price. In consequence, the study suggestions are that giant fresh water prawn breed should be developed to have higher rate of surviving and growing, fodder should be high in quality and be more negotiable price with the middleman, technique for gender sorting of fresh water prawn breed should be developed, and the farmers should set and clarify their farming plan in order to decrease the cost, and should have a record of income and expense.