Catfish farmers in US state Mississippi are concerned with the effect of rising costs from fuel to feed on their businesses.

Rising input costs are forcing some catfish farmers to exit the business, which would cause a certain degree of unemployment in the state.

Catfish feed, which is a mixture of soy, corn and wheat, has spiked to US$400 from US$225 per tonne. Measures to reduce costs by using corn gluten have not brought the price down enough to stop catfish farmers from closing down their operations.

Imported catfish are also having an effect, as last year's USDA figures showed that US catfish sales had dropped by 8 percent to US$445 million.