Production and economic results of intensive carp (Cyprinus Carpio) farming in Serbia

Abstract

Carp production in Serbia is traditionally conducted in large area fish farms under a semi-intensive farming system. Total area under fish farms in Serbia amounts to approximately 11 thousand hectares, with 8.5 thousand hectares being under exploitation each year. In 2004, a significant intensification of production began at fish farms in Serbia which have traditionally organized their production under a classic semi-intensive farming system. Intensification of production was undertaken with partial or complete feeding with pelleted complete feeds. That way carp production per area unit (kg/ha) was increased by over 50%. Apart from intensification by means of using the complete extruded feeds, construction of specialized fish farms for intensive carp production started in 2003. At this moment (2016) their area amounts to several hundred hectares. Data from intensive carp fish farms indicate that production of one- and two-year fish has been approximately 3t/ha in the period from 2003 until today, with a mild increase during the last couple of years. With the purpose of determining the cost effectiveness of investments in fish ponds for intensive carp production two organization-economic models have been analyzed in the study. The models have been formed based on in line with the specific features of the Serbian carp farming, which has been analyzed both on the basis of data obtained from the scientific and specialist literature but also from the production practice. Models of intensive carp production in technical and production sense have been defined in the study and production plans have been prepared. Therefore, based on such defined models, dynamic methods have been prepared for assessment of economic effects of the investments. The results of the analysis have demonstrated that investment in intensive carp production on 10ha fish farm is not, and on 50ha fish farm is barely economically justifiable, as well as methods for improvement of economic effectiveness.

Keywords

• carp ponds
• economic effects
• models
• intensive production systems
• investments