Working paper 4 - aquaculture and poverty - a case study of five coastal communities in the philippines.

WORKING PAPER 4 - AQUACULTURE AND POVERTY - A CASE STUDY OF FIVE COASTAL COMMUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES. CONTENTS * Abstract * Citation * Links ABSTRACT After reviewing the rather thin

literature on the subject, we investigate the relationship between aquaculture and poverty based on a case study of five coastal communities in the Philippines. The analysis relies on a data

set collated through a questionnaire survey of 148 households randomly selected in these five communities. The methodological approach combines the qualitative analysis of how this

relationship is perceived by the surveyed households and a quantitative analysis of the levels and determinants of poverty and inequality in these communities. There is overwhelming evidence

that aquaculture benefits the poor in important ways and that it is perceived very positively by the poor and non-poor alike. In particular, the poor derive a relatively larger share of

their income from aquaculture than the rich, and a lowering of the poverty line only reinforces this result. Further, a Gini decomposition exercise shows unambiguously that aquaculture

represents an inequality-reducing source of income. We believe that the pro-poor character of brackish water aquaculture in the study areas is explained by the fact that the sector provides

employment to a large number of unskilled workers in communities characterized by large surpluses of labour. Our results also suggest that the analysis of the relationship between

aquaculture and poverty should not focus exclusively on the socio-economic status of the farm operator/owner, as has often been the case in the past. CITATION Irz, X.; Stevenson, J.R.;

Tanoy, A.; Villarante, P.; Morissens, P. Working Paper 4 - Aquaculture and Poverty - A Case Study of Five Coastal Communities in the Philippines. (2004) 51 pp. LINKS Working Paper 4 -

Aquaculture and Poverty - A Case Study of Five Coastal Communities in the Philippines. UPDATES TO THIS PAGE Published 1 January 2004 Contents