Trade-offs between economic and environmental efficiencies in shrimp farming: implications for sustainable agricultural restructuring in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta

Nguyen Thuy Trang, Vo Hong Tu () and Steven W. Kopp
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Nguyen Thuy Trang: Can Tho University
Vo Hong Tu: Can Tho University
Steven W. Kopp: University of Arkansas

Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, 2024, vol. 26, issue 3, No 47, 6677-6701

Abstract: Abstract In recent years, the Vietnamese government has dedicated considerable planning and resources toward agricultural restructuring. These far-reaching efforts include promotion of intensive shrimp farming in the Mekong Delta to encourage the sustainable development of rural livelihoods. However, while intensive shrimp production may improve economic wellbeing, the current production practices raise concerns about the impacts on the local environment. The current study examines the economic and environmental efficiencies associated with the two primary species of farmed shrimp in four coastal provinces of the Mekong Delta. The study employs the material balance principle as a framework which considers the inputs to production and the outputs which may be undesirable. Using the efficiency estimates, we measure and investigate the trade-offs between the economic and environmental efficiencies for the shrimp farming in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta. The results suggest that the shrimp farming produces a significant nutrient surplus for either species. The analysis also suggests that achieving cost efficiency and environmental efficiency would help the shrimp farmers to reduce the undesirable outputs and that the movement from the cost efficiency to the environmental efficiency could result in a reduction of both production costs and nutrients. Based on these results, we offer policy recommendations for economically feasible and environmentally friendly shrimp farming. The material balance approach provides a useful lens through which to investigate agricultural production.

Keywords: Material balance; Environmental efficiency; Economic efficiency; Aquaculture; Sustainable production (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q01 Q12 Q50 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1007/s10668-023-02982-y

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