Economic and productivity performance of tilapia and rohu carp polyculture systems in Bangladesh, Egypt, and Myanmar

Polyculture of fish is a common pond-based aquaculture system practiced by small-scale producers in developing countries to improve input use efficiency, and increase productivity and profits. We conduct a cross-country comparison to examine whether the economic and productivity benefits are seen in data of 1,651 ponds from 1,307 fish farming households in three countries: Bangladesh, Egypt, and Myanmar. Among these ponds, polyculture is the prevailing system, as it is practiced in 66% of them. The surveys of these households were completed in 2019. We use propensity score matching to match the ponds based on household and pond characteristics, so that ponds are compared with other similar ponds. Results indicate that the aquaculture revenue and profit of polyculture ponds are higher…