Economic impact of disease on small-scale catfish farms in Nigeria

Disease outbreaks are a key menace in aquaculture, capable of causing huge economic losses to the farms. However, its economic impact on small-scale catfish farms has not received enough researchers' attention. Therefore, this study quantifies the economic value of disease outbreaks at different levels, investigates the economic performance of fish farms at different mortality rates, assesses the effect of disease outbreaks on profitability, and identifies the constraints faced by farmers in preventing and controlling aquaculture disease in Nigeria. Data were collected from 240 catfish farms and analysed with descriptive statistics, profitability analysis, Kruskal-Wallis test, and beta regression. The results revealed that the catfish farms encountered disease occurrences at different levels, with a mortality rate ranging from 1.86% to 19.73%, which was valued at USD 192.79 to USD 2056.38 per production cycle, respectively. The economic performance of the small-scale catfish farms reduced as the disease outbreak increased, which was indicated by the fact that the catfish farms with a low mortality rate had a higher profit than those with a high mortality rate. The regression analysis further revealed that the disease outbreak, proxy with mortality rate, mortality value, treatment cost, water cost, and transportation cost, had a negative and significant effect on catfish farms' profitability. The major severe barriers faced by catfish farmers in preventing and controlling disease on their farm were a lack of aquaculture disease management training, the non-availability of effective drugs within the reach of the farmers, the high cost of quality feeds, the high cost of drugs and treatment, and poor credit facilities. These results indicate the need for catfish farmers to be well-trained in aquaculture disease management by research institutes and extension agents to reduce the occurrence of disease outbreaks and increase their farms' economic performance. •The small-scale catfish farms encountered disease outbreaks at different levels, with a mortality rate of 1.86-19.73%.•The economic performance of the small-scale catfish farms reduced as the disease outbreak increased.•Catfish farms with a low disease outbreak had a higher gross margin, net income, and profit ratio but a low operating ratio.•Beta regression further revealed that the disease outbreak was an inhibiting factor to catfish farms' profitability.