Aquaculture innovation adoption: a preference and financial analysis of Litopenaeus vannamei hatcheries in the use of commercial live cold-stored Artemia nauplii in Indonesia

The adoption of innovations by hatcheries is closely linked to their preferences for those innovations. Hatchery preferences for live cold-stored Artemia affect hatchery management, production, and business performance. The objectives of this study were to assess the preferences and satisfaction levels of hatcheries and to analyze the financial performance of live cold-stored Artemia as the primary natural feed in L. vannamei hatcheries. Surveys were conducted in this study. A nonprobability sampling technique was used, with information collected through purposive sampling. A total of 18 hatcheries participated in the survey, including 11 that fully adopted live cold-stored Artemia (AC) and 7 that combined the use of live cold-stored Artemia and freshly self-hatching Artemia (AFC). The results of the classification tree analysis revealed that the predictors deemed highly influential on the full adoption of live cold-stored Artemia were technical and market support from producers, as well as the number of employees in the hatcheries. Hatcheries showed satisfaction with live cold-stored Artemia, demonstrated by a customer satisfaction index (CSI) of 81.02% and a customer loyalty index (CLI) of 71.76% in the loyal category. Financial analysis indicated that AC benefited the L. vannamei hatchery business more than the AFC, with benefit–cost ratios of 9.74 and 9.24, respectively. In addition, the IRR value of AC is 158% higher than 150% for AFC. The survival rate is a highly sensitive parameter of L. vannamei hatcheries. The L. vannamei hatcheries will suffer losses when the SR is 30% and lower, resulting in a negative NPV and IRR.