Title: Economics of commercial tilapia cage aquaculture in Uganda: How economies of scale affect profitability.

A major constraint to cage fish farming in Uganda is related to finance resulting in many farmers abandoning cage fish farming along the production pathway. This research designed a production and profitability tool of three different scales of producing tilapia in cages in Uganda at a commercial level. The objectives included drawing production and enterprise budgets, formulating 5-year production schedules, and structuring a 5-year cash flow analysis for these scales of production. Production and cost data from Pearl Aquatics fish farm was used to draw assumptions for small and largescale production scenarios. The investment budgets for cage aquaculture in Uganda were USD 47,236, 94,393 and 163,373 for small-scale, medium-scale and large-scale operations consecutively. The 5-year cash-flow analysis indicated costs for small-scale, medium-scale and large-scale to be USD 636,264, 1,706,955 and 3,750,284 respectively. All financial parameters, including Net Cash Flow, Net Present Value, Percentage Profitability, Internal Rate of Return, indicated financial viability from the three scales. Break-even prices and the cost needed to produce 1kg were USD 2.12, 1.93, 1.90 and USD 2.29, 2.0 and 1.82 for small-scale, medium-scale and large-scale respectively.