Effects of application for international quality assurance certifications on the farm’s profit: evidence from Vietnamese shrimp

Abstract

Food incidents have led to the increase in demand for food products certified by an international quality assurance certification of consumers all over the world. Shrimp is an important daily food product. As one of the largest shrimp production countries with the export-orientation, Vietnamese shrimp producers have to consider applying for the international quality assurances certifications to be able to satisfy the requirements of global consumers, and access to global markets, especially the high-standard markets such as the US, EU, and Japan. Despite the significant benefits obtained from the international quality assurance certifications, the application schemes for Vietnamese shrimp products were limited. It was due to the lack of awareness of the financial benefits of getting quality assurance certification for a multiplicity of shrimp farmers. This study aims to investigate the effects of application for international quality assurance certifications on the profit of Vietnamese shrimp farms. The Tobit regression model has been explored to achieve the purposive study. Found results indicated that the application for quality assurance certification might increase the profitability of shrimp farmers (p < 0.05), proposed this might be a meaningful alternative to improve the financial efficiency, and to call for the willingness to apply for international quality assurances certification of shrimp farmers. Besides that, other influencing factors, including cultivation methods, production costs, and farm-gate price, have been found as the significant determinants affecting the shrimp farm’s profit (p < 0.05). This suggests that a well-management in financial indicators might generate a better profit for shrimp farms.