Impact of Informal Networks Among Cage Fish Farmers on Catch Potential

Abstract

Access to agricultural information is a critical factor, particularly among smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa. Many smallholder farmers in this region struggle on their own to access formal extension services, which limits their production potential. To circumvent this, many smallholder farmers are relying on information they share with their peers. To evaluate the impact of these information sources used by smallholder cage farmers the study employed a propensity score matching technique to compare farmers’ groups relying on informal and formal sources. A total of 384 respondents were drawn randomly from thirteen districts around Lake Victoria in Uganda. The findings revealed that smallholder cage fish farmers who rely on informal sources of information were sharing timely and relevant agricultural information with their peers about cage fish technologies. Additionally, the result from the estimated average treatment effect (ATT) revealed a difference of 4539.21622 Kilograms of fish annually over the control group and was statistically significant at t=2.32; p=0.006. In terms of fish harvested in kilograms annually for the treated group was 24627.7162, compared to 20088.5 for the untreated.  Therefore, recognizing and integrating social networks into the existing policy interventions, can help in empowering smallholder farmers and facilitate sustainable agricultural development in Uganda’s agricultural sector.