p-ISSN 2094-4454 RESEARCH ARTICLE Socio-economic Benefits and Constraints for Mussel Farming Industry in Southern Negros Occidental Philippines Andrew D. Ordonio, Aniceto D. Olmedo, Mac Edmund G. Gimotea, Jovelle B. Vergara, Mark Ian R. Toledo, Carlos Hilado Memorial State College College of Fisheries Enclaro, Binalbagan, Negros Occidental Philippines Abstract: This study aims at understanding the socio-economic benefits accrued to mussel farmers and the constraints that hindrance the development of mussel farming in southern Negros Occidental province Philippines. Using a semi-structured open-ended one-on-one questionnaire, primary data were collected from a sample of 23 randomly selected mussel farming households in three farming areas in southern Negros Occidental province. The farmers considered mussel farming as alternative/supplemental livelihood to fishing. Currently, the investment for mussel farming is categorized as small-scale and family-based. Mussel farming helped augment family’s income. From the income they derive from mussel farming, they can now buy the basic needs of their families and they can even pay promptly their accounts from local credits. They further noted they can afford now to buy electronic gadgets and other appliances as well as spend some of their earnings for house repairs. Although, the benefits derived from mussel farming is positive, somehow, the farmers were impeded by constraints that hindrance the development of mussel farming industry. They had in mind that the lack of knowledge and Extension support probably hindrance the development of the mussel farming. If they are organized as community, they might as well can participate to any Extension activities designed for them. The lack of conflict management strategies was ranked lowest by the respondents. Such constraints must be address in a science-based policy which will focused on socio-economic empowerment. Consequently, the form of interventions should be from holistic perspectives and mussel farmers should play an important role to these undertakings. Keywords: mussel farming, socio-economic dimensions, benefits, constraints, sustainability INTRODUCTION Green mussel farming offers good economic incentives for development for enhancing food and livelihood security. Green mussel farming has already been acknowledged as one of the profitable enterprises in the coastal belts in southern Negros Occidental as a subsidiary income-deriving source for rural fishing community. The mussel is familiar by its brilliant green colored shell with its meat being succulent and palatable (Gren, et al., 2009; Lancmane, 2013). Green mussels along with oysters are the most common, important, and established bivalves farmed in the country where they are traditionally cultured from natural beds in rivers and in coasts (Peralta and Andalecio, 2011). Among the mussels proliferating in the coastal areas of the tropical zone, the green mussel, Perna viridis, locally, Tahong in the Philippines, is the only species farmed commercially (Andalecio, et al., 2014; BAS, 2008). Growing mussel contributes to local fisheries development. Mussel farming in general however, received very little economic development attention in the province of Trident - Journal of Fisheries and Social Development (JOFSD). Volume 12, No. 1, JUNE 2020 www.tridentjournal.com Socio-economic Benefits and Constraints for Mussel Farming Industry in Southern Negros Occidental Philippines Negros Occidental. Insufficient or absence of institutional governmental support to improve the farming technology and to optimize marketing strategies to make the industry competitive, stagnated mussel farming in the Philippines as compared to prawn and milkfish (Andalecio, et al., 2014). In southern Negros Occidental, green mussel farming is an economically important farming activity although its cultivation is not so widespread and popular. Green mussel farming is a viable economic activity as it offers low input and capitalization (Peralta and Andalecio, 2011) besides, the industry is family-based, small- scale, and with high demands in the domestic markets. With positive environmental impacts, its farming becomes a subsequent developing activity (Newell, 2004; Duarte, et al., 2008; and Salinas & Rosario, 2016). In Negros Occidental, mussel farming has been practiced several decades in the southern side of the province particularly; Hinigaran, Himamaylan, and Ilog. Objectives. Although the farmers from Hinigaran, Himamaylan, and Ilog supplied much of the mussels in the province, its farming characteristics and some socially constructed knowledge of the industry remains virtually undocumented. Generally, this study aimed to fill the information gap by providing an overview of the green mussel farming industry in southern Negros Occidental and further determined the benefits and constraints the farmers perceived to hindrance the mussel farming industry in the southern side of the province. Specifically, the study described the (a) farmers’ and the farming demographics such as household profile, mussel farmer’s education, household income, culture methods, and market and marketing (b) their concordance to the socio-economic benefits and (c) their concordance to the perceived socio-economic constraints to promote or hindrance the development of mussel farming in the southern Negros Occidental province. The data gathered and analyzed for this study formed the basis to develop Extension programming recommendations for mussel farming industry in southern Negros Occidental province is forwarded in the light of the existing experiences in other places. METHODOLOGY Research Design and Locale of the Study. The descriptive research that utilized the semi-structured open-ended one-on-one format gathered and described the demographics, the socio-economic benefits, and socio-economic constraints the mussel farmers perceived to promote or hindrance the development of mussel farming in southern Negros Occidental. The three important mussel farming areas considered for this study were the municipalities of Hinigaran and Ilog and the city of Himamaylan. Mostly, green mussels supplied to the entire Negros Island are farmed or gathered from the wild in these areas. Sample Units. A total of 33 accessible mussel farmers and their farm assistants considering 12 from Ilog, 8 from Hinigaran, and 13 from Brgy. Su-ay, Himamaylan City were surveyed. The interview started with the identification of key informants (KIs) who listed the names of mussel farmers and farm assistants from each sample units. Snowball sampling technique was utilized – that is identifying the names from the list and relying from the referrals of one to the next mussel farmer. The willingness to cooperate and the participants’ knowledge about mussel farming was considered primarily for this survey. Trident - Journal of Fisheries, and Social Development (JOFSD). Volume 12, No. 1 JUNE 2020 pISSN2094-445 2 www.tridentjournal.com Socio-economic Benefits and Constraints for Mussel Farming Industry in Southern Negros Occidental Philippines Instrument. Primarily, the data from anecdotal conversations with the key informants (KIs) and from the reviewed literatures formed the basis to develop the researcher-made instrument. The Part 1 of the three-part instrument gathered the information on the farmers and farming demographics in terms of farming household profile, education, income, culture methods, and market. In this survey, the participants were asked to indicate their answers by supplying the figures on the spaces provided in every item or by putting a check (/) mark on the rest of the items. The Part 2 of the instrument gathered data on the perceived socio-economic benefits the respondents derived from mussel farming. The Part 3 gathered data on the socio-economic constraints the participants perceived to promote or hindrance the economic development of mussel farming in southern Negros Occidental province. In giving their honest opinion to the 14 items survey in Part 2 and to the 14 items survey in Part 3, the participants were asked to encircle the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 provided on the right columns of every sub-statements. In the five-point Likert-type scale, the respondent’s answer of 1 was interpreted “strongly disagree” while the 5, “strongly agree”. In the Part 3 however, the participants were asked to rank the constraints sub-items. An answer of 1 indicated primary constraints on the sub variables in the survey. A 5- member panel composed of research faculty members of the College of Fisheries in CHMSC reviewed every item in the questionnaire. Subjecting the survey instrument to Good and Scates validation, a mean value of 4.56 suggests that the instrument was valid. After pilot testing to 10 mussel farmers in Pontevedra, Negros Occidental, the Chronbach’s Alpha test run in every sub-item in Part 2 and Part 3 yielded between 0.62 and 0.87 alpha values suggesting that the instrument was reliable. Data analysis. The participants’ and farming demographic features were analyzed using the frequency and percentage distribution. The cost and return analysis for the mussel farming project included in the farming profile sub-scale was analyzed using the simplified ROI analysis format. To analyze the data on the benefits and constraints variables, the weighted mean was used. The range of the scale used to verbally interpret the scores were: 1.00 – 1.80, strongly disagree; 1.81 – 2.60, disagree; 2.61 – 3.40, either disagree or agree, 3.41 – 4.20, agree; and 4.21