Jun 14, 20232 min
Updated: Jun 20, 2023
By Upasana Sarraju and Abhishek Pandey
In this report, we present an analysis of a large survey of Indian aquaculture farmers that we conducted in March 2023. This investigation has strong potential to help us adapt our Fish Welfare Standard based on shared characteristics across farms, variations across the surveyed regions, and changing needs of farmed fishes in Andhra Pradesh, India.
We polled 505 farmers across four regions of Andhra Pradesh. Our objective here was to deepen our understanding of farmers, farms, and farming practices in regions that are relevant to our field operations.
This survey encompassed different aspects of higher-welfare aquaculture: farmers and demography, awareness of fish welfare, farm characteristics, and farming practices.
Collecting self-reported information from a large number of farmers helped us identify the following key learnings.
Click on the arrows below to expand/collapse each learning.
To ensure objectivity, we crafted survey questions that encourage quantitative responses. The survey took 2.5 weeks to finalize, incorporating expert consultations to yield meaningful data for our ongoing efforts.
All participating farmers willingly gave their consent, ensuring that ethical considerations were upheld throughout the study. In total, we surveyed 505 farmers, including information on 810 individual farms across four districts of Andhra Pradesh, India.
We intended for this survey to place significant emphasis on capturing detailed farm characteristics, challenges in a typical farm, and the priorities of a typical farmer in Andhra Pradesh. This deliberate focus aimed to gather essential data to improve our welfare interventions.
We believe that the survey findings will enable us to better understand our field sites, and thus tailor interventions and guidelines that are not only effective but also feasible within the context of small, rural farming operations.
The survey has also helped us identify targets for further investigation and experimentation. We will continue to share updates in future posts.
Want to help us reduce the suffering of fishes, or share your thoughts on our work? Visit our careers page, or contact us.