Description

Abstract: The contribution of aquaculture development to the Vietnamese national economy and to farmers’ incomes has been documented in various government reports as well as working papers produced by development projects. However, the role of aquaculture in the life satisfaction of poor farmers has not been considered rigorously. In particular, it is very difficult to find any literature relating aquaculture adoption to job or life satisfaction of the adopters. Due to the controversial role of income in creating happiness and the increased contribution of fish production in the livelihoods of small scale farmers, there exists a question of whether income increases from adoption of aquaculture would raise happiness of farmers. This study identifies some determinants of job satisfaction and subjective well-being of small scale fish farmers in Vietnam and examines the role of earnings from fish production in generating their happiness. Cumulative logistic models with data from a 2001 survey in Southern Vietnam show that relative income, not absolute income, from aquaculture raises their job satisfaction. Higher satisfaction is also associated with involvement in extension services, a larger relative pond surface and a higher expectation level on earnings from aquaculture. The role of income per capita in job satisfaction or happiness is not confirmed. Happiness of the farmers increases with cash earnings from fish farming and income from wild fish relative to total household income.