The Mississippi Delta region is character-ized by a high percentage of socially disadvantaged, limited resource farmers. With small plots of land and little capital, there is need for a viable agricultural business alternatives for these farmers.

Aquaculture has grown rapidly in the past ten years and has proven to be a profitable enterprise for many farmers. However, the high capital investment and operating capital requirements of most aquaculture businesses have prevented many limited-resource farmers from participating in these enterprises. For example, in channel catfish production, pond construction, equipment and operating expenses average $5,300 per acre before the first fish is harvested. In many years, small-scale break-even costs are higher than prices paid by processors to farmers. Economies of scale, based on sales to processors requires a minimum of 80-100 acres of water to establish and maintain a profitable and viable business.

The objectives of this paper are to:

(1) present a rationale for an alternative production-marketing system for catfish production that is economically feasible, and

(2) present an Extension education program designed specifically to overcome financial and informa- tional constraints to participation in commercial catfish production on the part of socially disadvantaged limited resource farmers.

Research and demonstration have shown that direct retail marketing can bring the farmer a higher price than sales to processors, and the local demand for live fish may be far higher than commonly thought. In addition, many farmers have existing farm ponds or access to their own earthmoving equipment, allowing farmers to construct ponds at a lower cost.

If production and niche marketing efforts are carefully integrated into one comprehensive management strategy, it should be possible to operate small-scale aquaculture business profitability.

To accomplish this, however, requires a level of management of both production and marketing phases that is not commonly held by limited resource farmers.

The Extension educational delivery system in this program focuses on assistance primarily on the integration of production and marketing management through hands-on training of individual participants. The goal of this project is to provide management assistance, education, support, and encouragement. In support of this goal, the first phase is to locate or develop program resources appropriate for profitable small-scale production.

A series of fact sheets are being developed that cover the following topics: Introduction, Using Existing Farm Ponds, Holding Fish for Sale, Cleaning Catfish, Pond Construction, Economics, and Growing Fish. There is apparently considerable interest in small-scale catfish production, as the first printing of 3,000 copies of the "Introduction" fact sheet was exhausted in less than a year.