Aquaculture is a rapidly growing industry in Bangladesh. However, its progress is not without constraints. In the present study, farmers were asked about their perceptions of constraints to aquaculture from the perspective of productivity growth and areal expansion.
Constraints to fish production
Table 51 shows that high capital requirements were noted by both homestead and
commercial farmers as a key constraint to achieving higher levels of fish production. Good production requires regular use of feed, fertilizer and other inputs, which means that farmers require better access to finance than is presently available to them. Many poorer farmers may therefore struggle to increase production unless adequate credit facilities become available to them.
Half of shrimp farmers, 31% of koi (pond) farmers, 22% of pangas (pond) farmers and 8%– 17% of all other farmers reported disease to be the main obstacle to good levels of production. Shrimp farmers reported that diseases such as white spot disease were serious and usually ended in high levels of mortality. However, in the case of finfish, the main effects of disease usually reduced fish growth. High stocking densities, poor water quality and stocking of diseased seed are the main causes of disease outbreaks (Hossain et al. 2008; Karim et al. 2012).
Lack of access to good-quality seed was reported by 9%–17% of homestead pond farmers, 14%–25% of commercial pond farmers and 13%–29% of commercial gher farmers as a constraint that resulted in suboptimal levels of production. Many farmers across technologies mentioned fish seed as a very important input, but reported a lack of timely availability as a problem, saying that although fish seed was available during the peak production season, they often struggled to obtain good- quality seed during the slack season (August– September) for fingerling production. A lack of good hatcheries and nurseries in the locality was identified as the main cause of scarcity of good-quality fish seed. The limited availability and high price of good-quality feed was also recognized as a constraint by some producers.
SHOCKS AND ENVIRONMENT
Continuous increases in the price of feed ingredients and formulated feeds, as compared to fish prices that were often static or declining in real terms, also represented a problem for commercial farmers.
Other reasons reported by farmers as to why they had not been able to fully benefit from aquaculture included a lack of knowledge about fish farming practices, shortages of manpower, conflicts over multiple ownership of ponds, frequent natural disasters, and unsuitable ponds. Fluctuating market prices were also regarded as a problem, especially by pangas and koi farmers (26% and 23%, respectively), for whom obtaining prices at which they were unable to realize acceptable profits demotivated them from making investments in increasing fish production.
Constraints to the expansion of aquaculture enterprises
Expanding the area under fish culture is an obvious means of increasing fish production. Even if the technology and productivity remain constant, expanding the area can provide additional production and income. This can be done either through leasing in land or through constructing new ponds on one’s own land. However, the lack of financial capacity was a major limitation to this type of horizontal expansion (Table 52). Farmers mentioned that many of the most suitable areas were already in use for fish production, and expansion into new areas was not always feasible. The high lease value of ponds and ghers, or land on which to construct them, was mentioned as a major constraint to farmers wishing to expand the area of their operations.
Problems of collective decision making on cost sharing and distribution of benefits often limited the potential for the expansion or intensification of production in ponds with multiple owners. Problems associated with distribution of benefits and assignment of responsibility and accountability for
management of multiowner ponds sometimes led to their underutilization and even
abandonment. Some farmers also mentioned poaching and poisoning events in the
locality as a factor that demotivated them from attempting to expand the area under production.
Summary
Aquaculture has long been considered an important means of ensuring adequate food supplies in a context of growing demand, while acting as a vehicle for rural development. However, many concerns have been raised over the activity’s environmental and social sustainability and the conflicts engendered. The interplay of these positive and negative factors will ultimately determine how effective aquaculture is as a mechanism for inclusive rural development. A thorough understanding of these issues is required in order to develop effective strategies for minimizing negative aspects of aquaculture while maximizing benefits. This study attempted to investigate farmer perceptions of these issues.
Diseases and natural disasters were identified by respondents as the greatest threats to successful aquaculture production. Farmers were vulnerable to severe losses caused by these shocks. The impacts of aquaculture on the surrounding environment were mainly related to the destruction of surrounding agro- ecosystems by salinity intrusion associated with shrimp farming, as well as the environmental impacts of effluent discharge from intensive fish production systems into receiving ecosystems. Serious concerns have been raised about the social and environmental impacts of shrimp farms for a number of years. This study confirms that the shrimp industry is often guilty of abuses such as land grabbing, salinity intrusion into nearby cropland, and causing waterlogging.
SHOCKS AND ENVIRONMENT
Item Fish
(HS pond) Fish+SIS(HS pond) Pangas(pond) Koi(pond) Tilapia(pond) Carp(pond) Carp+ prawn(pond) Fish(gher) Shrimp(gher) Shrimp+rice(gher) Shrimp+prawn+rice(gher) Prawn+rice(gher) Pangas(beel) Rice-fish
High investment costs 15 18 72 52 66 57 44 62 20 16 30 53 84 18
Poor-quality fish seed 9 17 14 15 25 20 21 13 19 16 29 25 3 8
Lack of timely availability of quality seed 15 7 12 33 12 16 14 10 17 19 22 16 46 9 Poor access to market information 13 18 18 21 9 11 29 14 19 17 21 18 16 23 Limited availability of quality feed 3 - 10 12 16 2 1 4 1 2 12 4 - 2 Lack of labor for farming operations 4 3 6 - 9 10 2 3 7 4 2 2 - 9
Fish disease 8 14 22 31 10 11 17 11 49 56 52 40 22 13
Lack of postharvest handling facilities (e.g. ice) - - 1 - - - - 1 3 1 - - - - Frequent occurrence of natural disasters 10 1 2 - 36 7 34 33 19 10 13 23 5 - Unstable market (e.g. sudden price drop or low demand) 2 - 36 23 2 2 1 3 2 - 1 2 19 -
Lack of technical knowhow 27 11 5 20 20 9 18 25 10 13 16 27 3 9
Pond characteristics or local infrastructure unsuitable
for good production 9 20 1 10 1 5 - - 9 17 22 3 - -
High price of good-quality feed 10 12 20 20 7 19 5 14 3 - 28 20 - 39
Multiple ownership 14 15 - - - 5 1 4 6 4 - 0.47 8 1
Other 1 - 0.35 - - 1 - - 1 - 1 - - -
No response 7 9 1 - - 2 - - 1 2 1 - - -
Table 51. Farmer perceptions of constraints to aquaculture that inhibit production increases
(% of households responding).
Item Fish
(HS pond) Fish+SIS(HS pond) Pangas(pond) Koi(pond) Tilapia(pond) Carp(pond) Carp+ prawn(pond) Fish(gher) Shrimp(gher) Shrimp+rice(gher) Shrimp+prawn+rice(gher) Prawn+rice(gher) Pangas(beel) Rice-fish
Lack of financial capacity 13 26 17 44 43 37 44 40 48 50 37 53 57 27 Quality of own land not suitable for fish culture 11 26 3 2 18 13 4 12 12 16 22 7 19 48 Increased lease value (high competition among the
entrepreneurs) 1 - 5 11 5 5 - 27 23 34 19 40 - 3
Multiple ownership 16 20 2 1 1 5 1 5 7 2 1 2 3 2
Poisoning problem 0.26 - 1 - 3 1 5 - - - 6 1 - -
Poaching problem 1 5 1 - 3 2 9 2 3 - 7 3 - 1
No constraint (too busy with other business or did
many times) 0.26 - - 1 - 1 - 1 1 6 1 - - -
No response 60 42 73 41 26 35 37 18 9 6 23 20 14 14
Table 52. Farmer perceptions of constraints that prevent expansion of the area under production
(% of households responding).