A PRODUCTION FUNCTION ANALYSIS OF POND AQUACULTURE IN SOUTHERN GHANA

Aquaculture is considered an alternative to making up the shortfall in supply of fish in Ghana. The Cobb-Douglas production function, which relates production output to several independent input variables, was used to determine the inputs that affect productivity. A survey was conducted on pond farmers selected from four regions of Ghana. Empirical results show stocking rate as the most significant input that affected production. Aquaculture exhibited increasing returns to scale over the period of the study, meaning an increase in inputs will more than proportionately increase the output. Estimates of the marginal physical productivity of the inputs indicated stocking rate should be increased while decreasing feed and labor use in order to increase productivity.