ABSTRACT
The increase of global water demand has stimulated the application of water charging to seek its rational use. However, the establishment of the water tariff for a certain use is not an easy task, given that this tariff must have an elevated value, sufficient to encourage the rational use, but not so elevated, in a manner that compromises or prevents the development of production activities. The present study aimed to evaluate different water tariff values proposed and applied to the shrimp farming industry in Ceará, from 2003 to 2016, and analyze the sensitivity of the industry to these values. The analyses considered the productive performance of the shrimp farming observed by the producers, production costs for the activity, and incomes earned by the producers in 2008. The present study demonstrated that the only tariff value that makes the sector financially attractive is R$1.00/1,000m3, a lower value than the one previously proposed by the state of Ceará (R$ 31.20/1,000m3), which was reduced in the following years. In this context, a model was developed to fix tariffs for shrimp farming, which considers the payment capacity of the entrepreneur and the production costs to cultivate shrimp.
Keywords:
Water charging; Payment capacity; Shrimp farming