Examining the Significance of Gender, Marital Status, Landholding Size and Age of Members on Capacity of Local Level Fish Farmer Organisations

This study ponders on the significance of gender, marital status, landholding size and age of members on capacity of farmer organisations in promoting fish farming at the local level. Purposive sampling method was employed to select five fish farmer organizations. One farmer organisation was selected in Dowa district while four farmer organisations were selected in Mchinji district. All members of the farmer organizations were selected for the study. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. Data collection comprised focus group discussions (FGDs), key informant interviews and face to face interviews. Data were analysed using content analysis, critical discourse analysis and descriptive statistics. Results show that gender, marital status, landholding size and age of members have a significant (p < 0.05) influence on capacity of farmer organisations to promote fish farming. The study also showed that although institutional theory and social capital theory do not categorically or explicitly point to socioeconomic characteristics of the members as being central in enhancing capacity of the farmer organisations, this study has shown that gender, marital status, landholding size and age of members are critical for the successful performance of fish farmer organisations. It is therefore recommended that these socioeconomic factors be considered for successful establishment and development of vibrant and robust farmer organisations. It is further recommended that a follow-up study with a larger sample and replicated in more local communities should be carried out in order to provide more evidence on the influence of these socioeconomic factors on performance and capacity of fish farmer organisations.