Analysis of Risks and Opportunities in Fish Farming Business in Botswana

This dissertation proposal focuses on analyzing the risks and opportunities associated with fish farming business in Botswana. It aims to explore the factors affecting the growth of the business and identify the driving forces and risk factors. The study is related to project management and emphasizes on the management of fish farming business.

DISSERTATION PROPOSAL FORM
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Name Student Number
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Provisional Title of Your Dissertation.
An analysis on the risks and opportunities associated with the management of fish
farming business in Botswana
Describe the topic(s) or issue(s) you wish to investigate for your Dissertation.
These must relate to the subjects that comprise your programme of study, and must
clearly indicate what your aims /objectives / research questions will be.
Aim:
The primary aim of this research is to analyze the risks and opportunities that are
associated with the fish farming business management in Botswana. Botswana is a
landlocked country that is located in the southern part of Africa. Botswana is a fast
growing country in terms of economy and the growth of fish farming business in the
country is one of the driving forces behind it. However, along with opportunities, there
are also some major risks that hinder the growth of the business. This research aims to
explore both the opportunity and risk factors that are associated with the fish farming
business in the country.
What facts or information will you need to gather? How will you access these?
Brief Introduction
Botswana is a landlocked country in southern Africa and is also one of the sparsely
populated countries in the world mainly due to its arid landscape in most part of the
country. In some parts of the country, fish farming business has come into significant
prominence due to presence of some large water bodies. With time, fish farming
business grew significantly in the country along with other south African countries but at
the same time, there are some major risks that are associated with fish farming in the
country that have hindered the business for considerable amount of time.
Background and Statement of the Problem (Literature Review)
Background and Problem Statement
This research focusses solely on the fish farming business in Botswana. According to
Chiwaura and Mawere (2018), although the fish farming in the country has grown
significantly in the past few years, the business will never be profitable in the country as
compared to other south African countries due to a number of problems and issues. The
authors cited the reason that the cost inputs required for successful fish farming
business in the country is too high. Although the new companies can gain minor success
from the business, they will not be able to compete with other fish farming giants that
have controlled the market for decades in the neighboring countries of Botswana.
Authors Banda, Mutula and Grand (2017) said that another major problem for fish
farming business in Botswana is the population of the country. Being one of the sparsely
populated countries in the world, labor is not readily available. One alternative is to hire
fish farm laborers from the neighboring countries on temporary contracts but such
endeavor will be expensive and non-feasible. The authors Bahta et al. (2017) also have
mentioned that the fish feed is rarely available in the country and hence, it requires to be
imported from South Africa. As a result, fish feed is very expensive, which is not suitable

especially startup businesses who require minimum investment costs in order to earn
sufficient profit at the start.
Authors Dabbadie and Mikolasek (2017) raised another concern that the basic hygiene
infrastructure is very poor in the country especially near the fisheries. As a result, the
environmental conditions are degrading at a fast pace that in turn is affecting the quality
of fishing in the country.
Research Questions, Aim and Objectives
The main research questions that will be explored and answered through this research
are as follows.
 What are the main opportunities for the growth of fish farming business in
Botswana?
 What are the major risks associated with fish farming business in Botswana?
The aim of the research is to analyze the existing fish farming businesses in Botswana
including growth and development as compared to other countries in southern part of
Africa and also understand the existing factors that are affecting the business in a
significant scale.
The objectives of the study are as follows.
 To identify the driving forces behind the fish farming business in Botswana
 To identify the risk factors that can cause significant problems against the growth
of fish farming business in Botswana
Study Design
There are generally three kinds of study generally conducted based on the nature and
requirement of the research – qualitative, quantitative and mixed. Qualitative research
focuses on information based data, quantitative research focuses on statistical and
numerical data and mixed research focuses on both informative and statistical data.
This research primarily focuses on the qualitative data regarding the existing fish farming
business in Botswana and instead of numerical data like business statistics, faming data
and others, the research will emphasize on the main factors behind the opportunities
and risks with the fish farming business in Botswana.
Study Population and Sampling
Since, this is a qualitative research, the primary data collection will be done through
survey of some managers who are associated with the fish farms in Botswana. The
proposed sample size for the interview is 10 i.e. 10 fish farm managers will be
interviewed for collecting data.
Data Collection Methods and Instruments
Data Analysis Methods
In this particular research, the primary focus will be on qualitative data regarding the fish
farm businesses in Botswana. Hence, data collection will be done through interview of
10 fish farm managers in the country. After collection of data, the analysis can be done
using qualitative data analysis software like NVivo.
Quality of Study
Quality of study is essential in ensuring the accuracy of the results published at the end
of the research. Some of the common issues that arise from the primary data collection
process include biased responses, leak of personal data and others. In order to avoid
bias, it is important to crosscheck the information before using the data for analysis.
Furthermore, the interview participants will also be requested to avoid biased responses
so that the research can be performed accurately.
Study Period
It is expected that the study will take overall 6 months starting from planning and ending
with submission of research report document to the supervisor for review.
Participants in the Study
The main participant of the study is the researcher himself whose duty is to conduct the
research, collect data, analyze the data and establish the findings. The supervisor will
guide the researcher whenever necessary. Furthermore, there will be 10 participants
who will be required for survey purposes. The selected 10 fish farm managers will be
interviewed through online medium and the data will be collected from the interview for
analysis purposes. In addition, the identities of the interview participants will not be
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published and the data will be stored in safe and secured database in order to prevent
leakage of information to unethical users.
Ethical Considerations
The ethical considerations of the study include the following aspects.
The first main ethical consideration is that none of the interview participants will be called
without their prior consent and appointment. The interviewees will be provided with
interview consent that they will need to sign before the interview date is set. If a
participant does not sign the consent form, he will not be further used for the interview
process.
In order to maintain anonymity of the interview participants, no names or personal data
will be revealed. In case the name of the participant needs to be referred in certain parts
of the research, consent will be requested from the person prior to publishing of the
work.
For the purpose of the research, only research specific questions will be asked. There
will be no personal questions or questions that can hurt the sentiments or emotions of
the interview participants. Moreover, long interviews will be avoided; only 15 to 20
research specific questions will be asked.
Resources Required for the Study
There are some significant amount of resources required for the research since it will
take a long term (6 months) to publish the work. The first resource required will be an
access to the online library from which, journals and published works will be collected
and analyzed for literature review purposes. Secondly, an active internet connection will
be required for collection of secondary data that may assist in the research. The internet
will also be used for conducting the interview process on the selected managers from
the fish farms. Finally, a licensed version of NVivo software will be required to perform
qualitative data analysis on the data collected from the various sources.
References
Bahta, S., Wanyoike, F., Katjiuongua, H. and Marumo, D., 2017. Characterisation of
food security and consumption patterns among smallholder livestock farmers in
Botswana. Agriculture & food security, 6(1), p.65.
Banda, C., Mutula, S.M. and Grand, B., 2017. Information Needs Assessment for Small
Scale Business Community in Zambia: Case Study of Chisokone M. Malaysian Journal
of Library & Information Science, 9(2).
Chiwaura, H. and Mawere, M., 2018. Fish Farming and Aquaculture in Zimbabwe:
Revisiting Zimbabwe’s Aquaculture development Enigma through the Lenses of
Regulatory Framework. Development Naivety and Emergent Insecurities in a
Monopolised World: The Politics and Sociology of Development in Contempora, p.189.
Dabbadie, L. and Mikolasek, O., 2017. Rice-fish farming in the Malagasy Highlands,
twenty years after the FAO Projects. FAO Aquaculture Newsletter, (56), pp.33-37.
To which subject area(s) is this proposal - in your view - most strongly related?
The subject area of this proposal is strongly linked project management as the entire
study is based on how the fish farming business is managed in the selected region.
Utilizing the opportunities and risk analysis and management are also important parts of
project management on which this particular research focusses on.
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