Locale of the Study Selection of the study area is very important to fulfil the study objectives. Bagerhat, Khulna and Satkhira districts are the top three mud crab producing districts of Bangladesh and together they account for about 70% of all crab production of the country. To serve the purpose of the study Bagerhat Sadar and Rampal upazila of Bagerhat district and Shyamnagar upazila of Satkhira district were selected purposively.
The population of the Study All the farmers who fattened mud crab at Bagerhat sadar and Rampal Upazila of Bagerhat district and Shyamnagar Upazila of Satkhira district constituted the population of the study. To attain the objectives of the study, the number of mud crab fatteners was determined approximately by consulting with UFO, field level assistant of the Department of Fisheries and local farmers. With the help of them three rough list were prepared for the three Upazila comprising the mud crab fatteners. The total number of mud crab fatteners under Bagerhat sadar, Rampal and Shyamnagar Upazila were approximately 1200, 1500 and 1200. Hence the population of the study was approximately 3900 mud crab fatteners.
Sample, Sample Size and Sampling Procedure The farm survey were carried out for mud crab fattening by applying the multistage stratified random sampling technique for selecting crab fatteners. At the first stage, the 2 districts were selected based on the highest contribution in the mud crab production of Bangladesh. At stage two, for selecting the 3 Upazilas, the major crab cultivating Upazilas were selected through district fisheries office. Finally, the mud crab fatteners were selected randomly from the community level. Sample size of the study was determined by applying the following formula.
Primary data collection Primary data refers to the first hand data gathered by the researcher himself. Sources of primary data are surveys, observations, questionnaires, and interviews etc. Individual interviews were conducted in a face-to-face situation with a structured and pre-tested questionnaire for collecting primary data. Interviews were conducted in respondent’s house or at the mud crab fattening farm site.
. Secondary data collection An extensive study regarding all the information of a research topic is essential for conducting sound research. To enrich the quality of the research and enhance the depth of study, secondary data were collected from different sources. These sources were as follows; a) Relevant books and journals b) Department of Fisheries (DoF) c) Relevant thesis, reports, official records and newspaper d) Statistical data from different books.
Data collection period During data collection, necessary co-operation was obtained from field staff of different GOs, NGOs, local leader and obviously from the respondents. Before going to the respondent’s home for interviewing they were informed verbally to ensure their availability at home as per schedule date and time. According to the survey experience in some cases, the respondents felt hesitate to give answer at some aspect of questioning. The primary data were collected during February and March 2018.
Variables and Their Measurement Techniques The variable is a characteristic, which can assume varying, or different values in successive individual cases. A research work usually contains at least two important variables viz. independent and dependent variables. There are several factors that influence the resource use efficiency of mud crab fattening but among them most important six components were studied to analyze the factors affecting mud crab fattening as well as resource use efficiency of that practices. The dependent variable of the study was return from mud crab fattening.
Data Processing After completion of data collection from field, some interview schedules had verified randomly for the sake of consistency and completeness. Bogdan and Biklen (2006) insist that data analysis is also an on-going part of data collection. Editing and coding had done before putting the data in computer. Initially, all collected data were carefully entered in Microsoft Access then exported to Microsoft Excel. Exported data were checked randomly against original completed interview schedule. All the collected data were summarized and scrutinized carefully to eliminate maximum possible errors. If errors were detected, necessary corrections were made accordingly. The summery tables were made in MS Excel work sheet.
Data Analysis and Analytical Techniques Collected primary data from sample surveys were coded where appropriate, entered into a database system using Microsoft office software package. Finally, data were exported from Microsoft Excel program to STATA 14 statistical software package which offered statistical tools applied in social research. For the sake of statistical analysis for drawing inferences, some qualitative data were converted into quantitative numbers.
Benefit-Cost Ratio (BCR) analysis A benefit-cost ratio (BCR) is an indicator showing the relationship between the relative costs and benefits of a proposed project, expressed in monetary or qualitative terms. If a project has a BCR greater than 1.0, the project is expected to deliver a positive net present value to a firm and its investors. BCR for the mud crab fattening project was measured.