Agricultural Research Management Information System

Home
Research Summary
Search
About Us
- ARMIS
- Brochure
Contact Us
Report
User Request
Data Input
Help
- Operation Manual
  - PDF
  - Video
- Program Area & Commodity
We have reached 37600 number of research entries at this moment.

- Logout

Research Detail

Home
Research
Detail

Socio-economic and Environmental Impacts of Shrimp Farming in the South-western Coastal Region of Bangladesh

Sebak Kumar Saha
Department of Sociology, School of Social Sciences, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, Bangladesh

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

Despite contributing to the export earnings, saline-water bagda shrimp farming has created serious socio-economic and environmental problems in the south-western coastal region of Bangladesh. Bagda shrimp farming has adversely affected the livelihoods of small and marginal farmers and landless people. It has also destroyed the mangroves and increased salinity problems and thus has negatively affected soil, water, agriculture, fishery, the ecosystem, and the livelihoods of communities in the south-western coastal region of Bangladesh. Although bagda shrimp farming under the present situation benefits a small group of people, the benefit to society is minimal, or even negative, as a small group of people appropriate the profits at a cost to the livelihoods of the majority and to the environment. Thus, any economic analysis of bagda shrimp farming needs to take into account its negative impacts on the livelihoods of small and marginal farmers and landless people, and on the environment. The long-term benefits of bagda shrimp farming can only be achieved through the development of environmentally sustainable shrimp farming. Promoting bagda shrimp farming as a strategy for poverty alleviation and economic development necessitates fundamental changes in its management, and regulation to address serious adverse socio-economic and environmental impacts associated with it. This will only be possible when the issues of social equity and environmental sustainability become central to the management of bagda shrimp farming. Otherwise, bagda shrimp farming does not have a future role to play in poverty alleviation or the economic development of Bangladesh.

Keywords: Saline-water bagda shrimp, Shrimp farming, Socio-economic impact, Environmental impact, Bangladesh

Location: The south-western coastal region of Bangladesh

Start Date:

End Date:

Program Area: Socio-economic and Policy

Commodity: Shrimp

Objectives:

This paper, based on secondary published literature, explores the socio-economic and environmental impacts of saline-water bagda shrimp farming in three districts of the south-western coastal region of Bangladesh, namely Bagerhat, Khulna, and Satkhira.

Methodology:

The emergence of commercial saline-water bagda shrimp farming in Bangladesh Local people have practiced a limited-scale traditional coastal aquaculture, known as bheri culture, for centuries (Swapan and Gavin 2011). They used to practice bheri culture in their paddy fields from January/February to June/July (without fry harvesting, stocking, artificial feeding, liming, fertilisation, or aeration), in addition to rice production during the monsoon season (Ahmed et al. 2002; Habiba et al. 2013; EJF 2004). However, the Coastal Embankment Project (CEP) – a government project to create a green revolution in agriculture that began in the 1960s – has left no options for rice production as it created permanent saltwater logging in cultivable lands (Swapan and Gavin 2011). The government implemented the CEP to increase agricultural production by converting coastal tidal plains into freshwater areas in the south-western coastal region. As a part of the project, many polders (areas surrounded by dykes or embankments and hydrologi cally separated from the main river) were built (Swapan and Gavin 2011; Islam 2006). Although polders contributed to the increased agricultural production by saving crops from flooding and salinity in the initial phase, the successes from the polderisation soon disappeared (Islam 2006). As the polders prevented the inflow of silts to the plains, heavy siltation occurred outside the polders and saline-water flowed over the high embankments and submerged the low-lying agricultural lands within the polders. However, as sluice gates became blocked with silt, draining out the water through the sluice gates was not possible. Thus, polderisation has created permanent saltwater logging within the polders.

Impacts of saline-water bagda shrimp farming on people and the environment Shrimp farming has significantly reduced the area available for rice production by converting paddy fields into shrimp farms (Ali 2006).3 A study in two unions under Koyra Upazilla of Khulna District reveals that almost 90 percent of the land previously used for rice and vegetable production has been converted into shrimp ponds. Furthermore, shrimp farming has significantly reduced the productivity of lands. Shrimp farming causes soil degradation by increasing soil salinity and acidity, and by depleting soil nutrients, and thus lowers rice production significantly (Ali 2006). Shrimp farming also increases the salinity levels of the ground and surface water as saline water from shrimp farms seeps into ground and surface water. Ali (2006) found that rice production in a village in the Satkhira District declined 62 percent between 1985 and 2003 due to shrimp farming, although the population in the village increased from 888 to 1324 people over the same period. Thus, shrimp farming – by contributing to the drastic reduction in rice production – has increased food insecurity among the small and marginal farmers of the study village. As the economy of Bagerhat, Khulna and Satkhira districts is predominantly agricultural, the decline in the rice production area and the productivity of lands due to shrimp farming has negatively affected the livelihoods of those people in these three districts who are dependent on agriculture.

It is worth noting that the coastal region of Bangladesh has been experiencing severe soil and water salinity in recent years (Ministry of Environment and Forests [MoEF] 2005; Habiba et al. 2013) and the problem of soil salinity is much higher compared to water salinity 4. Out of 2.85 million ha of the arable coastal land in Bangladesh, about 1.2 million ha suffer from various levels of salinity (MoEF 2005) and almost 20 million people in the coastal region have been affected by salinity in drinking water collected from natural sources.

Source of Information: International Journal of Research on Land-use Sustainability 3: 128-137, 2017

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

Despite some positive aspects, saline-water bagda shrimp farming has created serious sociosocio-economic and environmental problems in the Bagerhat, Khulna and Satkhira districts of the southwestern coastal region of Bangladesh. It has adversely affected the livelihoods of small and marginal farmers and landless people. Unplanned and unregulated expansion of bagda shrimp farming has not only destroyed the mangroves, but has caused an increase in the salinity problems and has thus adversely affected soil, water, agriculture, fishery, the ecosystem, and the livelihoods of communities in these districts . Although there is no doubt that bagda shrimp farming under present circumstances is beneficial for a small group of people, the benefits to society are minimal, or even negative because a small group of people appropriate the profit at the cost of the livelihoods of the majority and damage to the environment. Any economic analysis of bagda shrimp farming should consider the cost of environmental problems and the negative social and economic impacts. The long-term benefits of bagda shrimp farming can only be achieved through the development of environmentally sustainable shrimp farming. This will address the socio-economic and environmental problems generated by shrimp farming, and ensure the survival of shrimp farming. If not managed according to environmental sustainability practices, the apparent success from the bagda shrimp farming cannot continue. Some of the earlier important government policy documents such as the National Fisheries Policy (Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock [MFL] 1998) and the Coastal Zone Policy (Ministry of Water Resources [MWR] 2005) contain guidelines in relation to shrimp farming. However, these guidelines, particularly guidelines regarding shrimp farming in the National Fisheries Policy (MFL 1998), were not adequate to address the negative socio-economic and environmental impacts of shrimp farming. Nevertheless, the National Fisheries Policy emphasises environmentally-friendly shrimp farming and supports an integrated cultivation of shrimp and rice in a rotational or concurrent system (MFL 1998). Likewise, the Coastal Zone Policy (MWR 2005), which does not directly address the negative impacts of shrimp farming, also emphasizes an environmentally friendly and socially acceptable shrimp farming industry, and the introduction of internationally accepted quality control measures in the shrimp sector. Although the National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA) (MoEF 2005) mentions that the salinity intrusion due to climate change will have serious adverse effects on agriculture and the availability of fresh water in the coastal area of Bangladesh, and identifies that inundation of the land with saline water for shrimp farming as one of the key reasons for salinization of the coastal land, it does not suggest any measures to address the adverse effects of salinity induced by shrimp farming.

Knowledge Management: Journal