IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i23p16018-d989411.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Are Chilimira Fishers of Engraulicypris sardella ( Günther , 1868) in Lake Malawi Productive? The Case of Nkhotakota District

Author

Listed:
  • Kingdom Simfukwe

    (Africa Centre of Excellence in Aquaculture and Fisheries (AquaFish), Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Lilongwe P.O. Box 219, Malawi)

  • Moses Majid Limuwa

    (Africa Centre of Excellence in Aquaculture and Fisheries (AquaFish), Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Lilongwe P.O. Box 219, Malawi)

  • Friday Njaya

    (Department of Fisheries, Lilongwe P.O. Box 593, Malawi)

Abstract

An ecological shift has populated Engraulicypris sardella as a livelihood and economic drive among fishers in Malawi. However, the paucity of biological information regarding E. sardella limits the effective monitoring and sustainable management of the fishery. This has created a heavily invested fishery in terms of the effort put into fishing, but it is poorly managed. Moreover, the current production capacity from the fishery has a negligible impact on lessening the shortfall of the national fish demand, indicating its underperformance. Therefore, the productive efficiency of Lake Malawi Chilimira fishers in exploiting E. sardella was analysed. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to sample 355 Chilimira fishers between July and October 2021. Results from the translog stochastic frontier model revealed that Chilimira fishers had an overall mean technical efficiency of 60% that ranged between 21% and 92%. This indicates that Chilimira fishers are 40% technically inefficient in exploiting E. sardella . The fishing inputs of bunt area, light emitting diode (LED) bulbs, and mesh size significantly contributed to technical efficiency, whereas boat size, fishing depth, number of hauls, and mosquito net lining significantly reduced the technical inefficiency. On average, the Chilimira fishery is operating with increasing returns to scale with bunt area, the quantity of fuel (litres), and the number of LED bulbs having positive input–output elasticity. This means that new developments in the fishery, including LED bulbs, increased bunt area, and boat size, are key factors that will improve fishing efficiency for sustainable fishery exploitation. In contrast, illegal fishing units of small bunt mesh size and mosquito net lining at the bunt threaten the sustainability of the fishery. It is, therefore, important that relevant stakeholders put policy measures in place that promote sustainable fishing effort approaches in exploiting the virgin offshore fishery to maximise catch.

Suggested Citation

  • Kingdom Simfukwe & Moses Majid Limuwa & Friday Njaya, 2022. "Are Chilimira Fishers of Engraulicypris sardella ( Günther , 1868) in Lake Malawi Productive? The Case of Nkhotakota District," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-19, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:23:p:16018-:d:989411
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/23/16018/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/23/16018/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kopp, Raymond J., 1981. "Measuring the technical efficiency of production: A comment," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 450-452, December.
    2. Raymond J. Kopp, 1981. "The Measurement of Productive Efficiency: A Reconsideration," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 96(3), pages 477-503.
    3. Jun Ho Seok & Hanpil Moon & GwanSeon Kim & Michael R. Reed, 2018. "Is Aging the Important Factor for Sustainable Agricultural Development in Korea? Evidence from the Relationship between Aging and Farm Technical Efficiency," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-15, June.
    4. Hung-jen Wang & Peter Schmidt, 2002. "One-Step and Two-Step Estimation of the Effects of Exogenous Variables on Technical Efficiency Levels," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 129-144, September.
    5. Gershom Endelani Mwalupaso & Shangao Wang & Sanzidur Rahman & Essiagnon John-Philippe Alavo & Xu Tian, 2019. "Agricultural Informatization and Technical Efficiency in Maize Production in Zambia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-17, April.
    6. James E. Kirkley & Dale Squires & Ivar E. Strand, 1995. "Assessing Technical Efficiency in Commercial Fisheries: The Mid-Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 77(3), pages 686-697.
    7. Kumbhakar,Subal C. & Wang,Hung-Jen & Horncastle,Alan P., 2015. "A Practitioner's Guide to Stochastic Frontier Analysis Using Stata," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107609464.
    8. Lone Grønbæk & Marko Lindroos & Gordon Munro & Pedro Pintassilgo, 2020. "Game Theory and Fisheries Management," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-030-40112-2, December.
    9. Lukáš Čechura & Zdeňka Žáková Kroupová, 2021. "Technical Efficiency in the European Dairy Industry: Can We Observe Systematic Failures in the Efficiency of Input Use?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-19, February.
    10. Habtamu Alem, 2021. "The Role of Technical Efficiency Achieving Sustainable Development: A Dynamic Analysis of Norwegian Dairy Farms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-11, February.
    11. Aigner, Dennis & Lovell, C. A. Knox & Schmidt, Peter, 1977. "Formulation and estimation of stochastic frontier production function models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 21-37, July.
    12. Banda, M & Jamu, D. & Njaya, F. & Makuliwa, M. & Maluwa, A. (eds.), 2005. "The Chambo restoration strategic plan," Monographs, The WorldFish Center, number 16346, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Muratbek Baglan & Gershom Endelani Mwalupaso & Xue Zhou & Xianhui Geng, 2020. "Towards Cleaner Production: Certified Seed Adoption and Its Effect on Technical Efficiency," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-17, February.
    2. Markose Chekol Zewdie & Michele Moretti & Daregot Berihun Tenessa & Zemen Ayalew Ayele & Jan Nyssen & Enyew Adgo Tsegaye & Amare Sewnet Minale & Steven Van Passel, 2021. "Agricultural Technical Efficiency of Smallholder Farmers in Ethiopia: A Stochastic Frontier Approach," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-17, March.
    3. Abubakar Rasheed & Gershom Endelani Mwalupaso & Qasir Abbas & Xu Tian & Rafay Waseem, 2020. "Women Participation: A Productivity Strategy in Rice Production," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-15, April.
    4. Sebastian Lakner & Thelma Brenes‐Muñoz & Bernhard Brümmer, 2017. "Technical Efficiency in Chilean Agribusiness Industry: A Metafrontier Approach," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(3), pages 302-323, June.
    5. Danuse Nerudova & Marian Dobranschi, 2019. "Alternative method to measure the VAT gap in the EU: Stochastic tax frontier model approach," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(1), pages 1-38, January.
    6. Antonio Alvarez & Carlos Arias, 2014. "A selection of relevant issues in applied stochastic frontier analysis," Economics and Business Letters, Oviedo University Press, vol. 3(1), pages 3-11.
    7. Nguyen, Hoa-Thi-Minh & Do, Huong & Kompas, Tom, 2021. "Economic efficiency versus social equity: The productivity challenge for rice production in a ‘greying’ rural Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    8. Orea, Luis, 2019. "The Econometric Measurement of Firms’ Efficiency," Efficiency Series Papers 2019/02, University of Oviedo, Department of Economics, Oviedo Efficiency Group (OEG).
    9. Gralka, Sabine, 2018. "Stochastic frontier analysis in higher education: A systematic review," CEPIE Working Papers 05/18, Technische Universität Dresden, Center of Public and International Economics (CEPIE).
    10. Hai-Dang Nguyen & Thanh Ngo & Tu DQ Le & Huong Ho & Hai T.H. Nguyen, 2019. "The Role of Knowledge in Sustainable Agriculture: Evidence from Rice Farms’ Technical Efficiency in Hanoi, Vietnam," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-10, April.
    11. Orkhan Guliyev & Aijun Liu & Gershom Endelani Mwalupaso & Jarkko Niemi, 2019. "The Determinants of Technical Efficiency of Hazelnut Production in Azerbaijan: An Analysis of the Role of NGOs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-19, August.
    12. Galluzzo Nicola, 2020. "A Technical Efficiency Analysis of Financial Subsidies Allocated by the Cap in Romanian Farms Using Stochastic Frontier Analysis," European Countryside, Sciendo, vol. 12(4), pages 494-505, December.
    13. Gershom Endelani Mwalupaso & Xu Tian & Xianhui Geng, 2020. "Rethinking Food Production: Nexus of Mobile Phones and Production Cost Minimization," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-12, April.
    14. Taining Wang & Jinjing Tian & Feng Yao, 2021. "Does high debt ratio influence Chinese firms’ performance? A semiparametric stochastic frontier approach with zero inefficiency," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 61(2), pages 587-636, August.
    15. Vigren, Andreas, 2016. "Cost efficiency in Swedish public transport," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 123-132.
    16. Djuraeva, Mukhayyo & Bobojonov, Ihtiyor & Kuhn, Lena & Glauben, Thomas, 2023. "The impact of agricultural extension type and form on technical efficiency under transition: An empirical assessment of wheat production in Uzbekistan," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 203-221.
    17. Efecan, Volkan & Temiz, İzzettin, 2023. "Assessing the technical efficiency of container ports based on a non-monotonic inefficiency effects model," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    18. Mattsson, Pontus, 2019. "The impact of labour subsidies on total factor productivity and profit per employee," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 325-341.
    19. Mulugeta Y. Birhanu & Tesfahun Alemayehu & Jasmine E. Bruno & Fasil Getachew Kebede & Emmanuel Babafunso Sonaiya & Ezekiel H. Goromela & Oladeji Bamidele & Tadelle Dessie, 2021. "Technical Efficiency of Traditional Village Chicken Production in Africa: Entry Points for Sustainable Transformation and Improved Livelihood," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-21, July.
    20. Zangin Zeebari & Kristofer Månsson & Pär Sjölander & Magnus Söderberg, 2023. "Regularized conditional estimators of unit inefficiency in stochastic frontier analysis, with application to electricity distribution market," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 59(1), pages 79-97, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:23:p:16018-:d:989411. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.