ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF TAMBAQUI “CURUMIM” PRODUCTION IN EARTH PONDS IN THE METROPOLITAN REGION OF MANAUS-BRAZIL

Increasing demands for tambaqui curumim (350 - 700 g) has boosted its rearing in the metropolitan region of Manaus, thus this study aimed at performing an economic evaluation of this production. Seven fish farms that produce tambaqui curumim were selected and, by means of a semi-structured questionnaire, rearing stages were identified, such as production cycles, management methods, infrastructure, productive indexes and monetary expenses, which allowed the calculation of both the Total Operational Cost and profitability indicators. The results indicate a wide variation on productive indicators among the studied fish farms, with high indexes of apparent feed conversion (>2) and low productivities (<8 t. ha year -1 ), which resulted in an average cost of R$5,37 kg -1 , with feed as the main cost. These factors, associated with a low marketing price (< R$ 3,76 kg -1 ) of the tambaqui curumim, make this an unfeasible activity in 85,15% of the evaluated fish farms. Keywords: fish farm, production cost, profitability.