Gaudencio Gallardo P, Matilde Melicent Santos-Recto
Despite the rising significance of agriculture in todays’ world, agricultural activities have continued to decline in different areas in our country. Thus, agricultural activities which include fish production should be encouraged by giving support to various aspects of its production. Benchmarking needs to be undertaken to be able to determine the common practices among blue rurban entrepreneurs and identify problems to provide solutions for the improvement of their business operations. This study determined the practices of blue rurban entrepreneurs in terms of operations, marketing, financial, and sustainability. The respondents for this study were the entrepreneurs engaged in fish production, specifically tilapia growers, which are located in the rurban areas of Nueva Ecija. The list of respondents was requested from the provincial office of Nueva Ecija, Palayan City. A total of 160 respondents were selected through stratified random sampling. A questionnaire was used as guide in interviewing the entrepreneurs to assess their practices in doing their business. It was determined that majority of the sample population comprise adults aged 41-65 years old, married, finished secondary education, and owners of their respective businesses with at most 10 employees. Also, majority of the respondents own at most 2,000 square meters and operating their business for 6 to 10 years. The water used in the production comes primarily from deep wells and majority is purchasing the inputs such as feeds and fingerlings. It was also revealed that majority sells the goods to neighborhood through pick-up in a span of one day and relies on word of mouth in advertising their product. Further, majority obtains their capital through personal investment while those who avail loans acquire them from banking institutions and lending companies. In addition, most of the respondents do not list their cost and manually accounts their expenses when the inputs were used. In terms of the level of their business practices, it was determined that only sustainability aspect is highly practiced by the blue rurban entrepreneurs while operations, marketing, and financial aspects are moderately practiced. It is therefore recommended that the provincial government, LGUs and various organizations should provide strong support such as technical and financial assistance to continuously help the blue rurban entrepreneurs in improving their operations and overall performance.