The contribution of milkfish ( Chanos chanos ) pond farming to socio-economics and coastal community livelihoods for a sustainable blue economy in Tanzania

The knowledge of socio-economics and livelihoods of milkfish ( Chanos chanos ) pond farming to coastal communities is limited in Tanzania. This study assessed the milkfish pond farming contribution to the socio-economics and livelihoods along the Tanzanian coastline. Sixty-three milkfish farms were interviewed through a semi-structured questionnaire. The results indicated that milkfish pond farming was characterized by low production. The milkfish pond production was positively influenced by farmers’ experience, the number of fingerlings stocked, and pond fertilization. However, milkfish pond farming was significantly negatively affected by days of culture and age of the farmers. The results further showed that milkfish pond farming is a source of income to the owners after selling their fish through retail, wholesale, and on-farm sales via mobile phone communications. However, milkfish pond farms in the studied areas had a negative margin considering all financial factors. Interestingly, milkfish pond farming is a source of food, income, and employment to the community. Nevertheless, milkfish pond farming is constrained by inadequate feeds, seeds, funds, technical support, and existence of theft and predators. Therefore, addressing these challenges is necessary for enhancing milkfish pond farming contribution to the socio-economics well-being and livelihoods support for the coastal communities.