Conceptual model of system dynamics for increasing catfish productivity using recirculation aquaculture systems.

The growing demand for catfish in Bandung, Indonesia cannot be fulfilled by the catfish supplier from around Bandung. This encourages catfish farmers to increase catfish productivity by innovating production technology due to the limited farming area. In this research, the conversion of Biofloc Technology (BFT) to Recirculation Aquaculture System (RAS) is expected to increase the productivity of catfish farming and the revenue as well. However, the conversion requires investment and leads to an increase in operational costs. It creates trade-offs. The problem is how the technology conversion affects the sustainability of the catfish business. This study aims to develop a conceptual model of catfish farming by adopting System Dynamics to describe the trade-offs among the related variables. The research method is descriptive analytics. The conceptual model is constructed from the phenomena of the existing catfish farming business process and then describe in a Causal Loop Diagram (CLD). The structure of the developed conceptual model consists of variables of demand, technological change, catfish production, production costs, and revenue. The result shows that the developed conceptual model consists of 2 reinforcing loops and 2 balancing loops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]