Alternativa econômica para o novo rural do nordeste brasileiro: o cultivo do camarão Litopenaeus vannamei em água doce

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the economic feasibility of the Litopenaeus vannamei shrimp in farming locates at the rural area of the state of Ceará. The primary data was collected through interviews and direct research by questionary applications upon farmers. All farmers were surveyed, corresponding to ten shrimp producers that were farming at the moment of the survey. The analysis used the economic return measurements. The results showed that the average total cost was sufficient to make the activity economic feasible, generating a net margin equivalent to 27%. The gross margin of each farmer was positive which suggests that the farmers can continue production in the short run. Besides that, when farmes are aggregated and analyzed, their average net return were higher than the average total variable cost. That means there was positive net margin suggesting to the farmes that they can keep production in the long run. Only two producers had losses, nevertheless they have gotten net margins higher than zero. It is important to stress that some farmers got better performance than others, p. e. a farmer that earned the annual profits of R$ 110.705,95, the average cost of R$ 1,89 per kg, when the sale's price was R$ 6,00 per kg, leading to a break even point of 31,43% for the shrimp production actually yielded.