EFFECT OF SHRIMP CULTURE ON THE SOCIO-ECONOMY OF THE AREA

7.1. Introduction

The high financial returns from shrimp farm ventures has been a primary factor behind the rapid change of land use and farmers occupation along the coastal area of Bangladesh. As a result, substantial areas of vegetation and paddy fields have been converted in shrimp ponds.

During the past earlier than 60s, there was no socio-economic conflict between brackish water aquaculture and rice farmers. In the 1960s, Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) started building up coastal embankments to prevent saline water incursion on the land with a view to ensuring year-round agricultural crop production. During the late 60s, however, export of frozen shrimp, fish and frog legs from the country started and freezing plants were setup in Chittagong and Khulna. Realizing the lucrative business in shrimp export, many local rich people and businessmen engaged in shrimp culture operations in their suitable lands within the embankment in Satkhira, Bagerhat and Khulna. This business minded people did make breaches across the embankments to bring in and drain out saline waters into and out of the Ghers within the embankments. 

7.2 Socio-economic Position of the Respondents

7.2.1 Households Characteristics

The Table 7.1 is revealed that  about 94.38% of the respondents have been living in study area permanently from their livelihood. The place of origin were mostly around the coastal area. A few of the respondents moved from other upazila in Bagerhat district (3.54 %), or other district from Khulna division (2.08 %) to follow their spouse after marriage.

Thirty seven per cent of the households had less than national average number of less 5 members. Average family size had been recorded 6.22 persons per household. Majority of the households having 5-8 persons recorded at 57.49 per cent. About 80.89 per cent of the households members were labour age ( with age between 16-60 years). Of these, 10.77 per cent were studying, 8.34 per cent had no work, while 80.89 per cent were working.

As for the respondents education level, about  26.25 per cent have attended primary school, with 22.25 per cent attended secondary school. A very few of the households have graduation (3.91%). Near about fifty per cent  members of the households have no education that is one the reason for traditional shrimp rather than scientific shrimp cultivation. Most of the respondents had been engaged in shrimp culture for more than 10 years. It could be inferred that the period of staying around the coastal area and duration of engagement in shrimp farming seemed to be closely related. The main reason for the shift in occupation to shrimp culture by farmers inside and outside the study area was the much higher income that could be achieved from shrimp culture compared to their previous occupation.

7.2.2 Types of Occupation

Atiur (1994) reported in 1993, agriculture was the principal occupation of majority of the respondents (38.25%). Only 14 per cent of the respondents have said that shrimp farming is their first occupation. At present (1999) this figure have been increased to 22.45 per cent. Majority members of the household have engaged with more than one occupation which accounted 62.53 per cent called as secondary occupation. Shrimp farming occupation dominant (38.41%) over agriculture (35.7%) as a secondary occupation. 

Table 7.1 Household Characteristics

Items		Percentage
1. Place of Origin
	a) Within the study area	94.38
	b) Outside the study area	3.54
	c) Other districts	2.08
Total		100.00
2. Household size
Average household size = 6.22	< 5 members	37.43
	5 - 8 members	57.49
	> 8 members	5.08
Total		100.00
3. Educational attachment
	a) Primary school	26.25
	b) Secondary school	22.24
	c) Graduation	3.91
	d) No education	47.60
Total		100.00
4. Active labour force (16 - 60 years)
	a) Studying	10.77
	b) Working	80.89
	c) Not working	8.34
Total		100.00
4. Occupation (Primary)
	a) Agriculture	38.25
	b) Shrimp farm	22.45
	c) Business	12.66
	d) Day labour	14.36
	e) Professional	12.27
Total		100.00
5. Occupation (Secondary)
Only 62.53 % of the total population	a) Agriculture	35.70
have secondary occupation	b) Shrimp farm	38.41
	c) Business	9.81
	d) Day labour	14.61
	e) Professional	1.46
Total		100.00

Source: Field Survey. 1999

7.2.3 Income Distribution

Equally skewed is the distribution of the respondents when categorised in terms of income groups. Salaries people and ghers owner possesses the highest income in the study area. About 11.8 per cent and 35.4 per cent of the respondents have an annual income exceeding one lakhs. About 36.8 per cent of salaries people, 37.5 per cent of the business people and 27.9 per cent belong to Taka 20,000 to 50,000 income groups. Whereas the remaining 36% of them belong to less than Taka. 20,000 income group (Table 8.5).

Table 7.2: Classification of respondents on the basis of yearly income

Income Group	Percentage of Different Category
	Salary	House Rent	Business	Wage	Agriculture	Livestock & Poultry	Gher	Others
<10000	5.9	66.7	19.8	42.3	56.5	97.8	5.4	63.1
10000-20000	20.6	33.3	35.4	29.6	24.8	0.9	8.6	18.5
20000-50000	36.8	0.0	37.5	22.5	15.2	0.9	27.9	12.3
50000-100000	25.0	0.0	7.3	5.6	2.2	0.0	22.9	6.2
100000+	11.8	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.4	0.3	35.4	0.0
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Household number
% of total household

Source Field Survey, 1999

Category	Frequency	Income	Percentage of total	Income per household
Salary	68	3724600	9.47	54773.53
House Rent	3	25000	0.06	8333.33
business	96	2304475	5.86	24004.95
Wage	72	2439700	6.20	33884.72
Agriculture	363	5436590	13.82	14976.83
Livestock & Poultry	316	959470	2.44	3036.30
Gher	279	23565260	59.89	84463.30
Others	65	891600	2.27	13716.92
TOTAL	374	39346695	100.00	105205.07

7.2.4 Sources of Water according to Use

Surface and ground water quality is contaminated by shrimp farming in the study area. People in the study area use tube wells as the main source of drinking water. Water bodies such as pond, canal and river have been used for bathing, cleaning and washing. Livestock are also bathed and cleaned in the same water. During 1975, about fifty two per cent of the respondents from the study area were reported that shallow tube well was used for drinking purpose. As increased salinity by the shrimp farming the sources of drinking water are changing. Use of deep tube well for drinking purpose was increased to 33 per cent at 1985 and 46.8 per cent at 1999. Table 7.3 shows the sources of available water according to different use.

Table 7.3 Water sources and uses for household purpose.

Use	Sources	% of total in 1975	% of total 1985	Difference in % (1985-75)	% of total in 1999	Difference in % over 1999-75
Drinking	Shallow tube well	52.30	24.55	-27.75	16.16	- 36.14
	Deep tube well	42.34	75.45	33.11	89.84	46.80
	Pond	5.36	0	- 5.36	0	- 5.36
	Canal	0	0	0	0	0
	River	0	0	0	0	0
Bathing	Shallow tube well	15.02	10.67	- 4.35	5.23	- 9.79
	Deep tube well	9.60	11.27	1.67	27.02	17.42
	Pond	75.37	78.06	2.69	67.75	- 7.62
	River	0	0	0	0	0
Cooking	Shallow tube well	59.42	27.35	- 32.07	18.59	- 40.83
	Deep tube well	15.13	52.65	37.52	71.98	56.85
	Pond	25.45	20.00	- 5.45	9.43	- 16.02
	Canal	0	0		0	0
	River	0	0	0	0

Source: Field survey, 1999.

8.13      Social Environment and Occurrence of Crime   

The people of the study area led a vibrant socio-cultural life not very long ago. But because of diverse socio-cultural and other reasons during the one and half decades the scenario of social environment in Khulna city has markedly deteriorated. Now from theft to violation of minor girls/women and even murder in the broad day light are becoming a usual phenomenon in the city. Nobody feels safe from these miscreants. Prevailing common social crimes in the city are hijacking, vandalism, looting, dacoities, stealing, toll extortion (forceful money collection), abduction and trafficking of child and woman. In the city some 15 crime spots or zones have been identified.

As far as social environment is concerned, stealing was at the top of the list amounting to a 32 per cent of the total crime occurred in the city last year (April - June). It is followed by ransacking (20 per cent), dacoities (14 per cent), and toll extortion (7 per cent). Among the 31 Wards, worsely affected Wards are 5, 6, 7, 9, 12, 18, 22, 25, 26, 27, 29 and 31, where 100 per cent of the sample households acknowledged that they are in the grip of social evils. On the contrary, as far as social crime is concerned, the inhabitants of the Ward Nos. 2, 3, 13, 24, 16, 17, 21,4 and 20 feel more safe (Appendix XXXXIII).

Table 8.13.1 shows the types of crimes occurred in the city during April – June, 1998.

Table 42: Percentage of the Respondents about  occurrences of crimes

Types of	Percentage			Percentage of differences
Incidents	1975	1985	1999	1985-75	1999-85	1999-75
Theft	19.0	27.8	39.6	8.8	11.8	20.6
Dacoities	3.5	4.0	6.4	0.5	2.4	2.9
Murder	0.0	0.8	0.5	0.8	-0.3	0.5
Plundering	2.4	3.2	5.9	0.8	2.7	3.5
Snatching	1.9	4.0	6.7	2.1	2.7	4.8
Court Case	1.1	11.0	14.2	9.9	3.2	13.1
Toll Extortion	0.3	0.5	3.5	0.3	2.9	3.2
Forcible Occupation of Land	0.3	2.9	14.2	2.7	11.2	13.9
Plundering of Crops	0.3	1.1	4.8	0.8	3.7	4.5
Total	28.6	55.3	95.7	26.7	40.4	67.1

Table 8.13.1: Occurrences of Crimes

Type of crime	Numbers	Percentage
Murder	8	5.3
Violation of minor girls / women	9	6
Ransack / Firing / Burning	17	11.3
Abduction / Kidnap	7	4.8
Toll extortion	27	18
Hijacking / Dacoities	44	29.3
Uncontrolled Agitation	33	22
Child and women trafficking	2	1.3
Child and women abuse	3	2
Total	150	100

Source: The Daily Purbanchal, April-June, 1998

7.3 Cost Associate with Shrimp Farming

There are two major cost involved in the shrimp farming. Ghers construction and equipment cost is the initial amount for development of farm and machinery needed for it. In Rampal, most of the farms are situated on the paddy field. On this field, a ‘vheribadh’ (embankment of the paddy field about height 3-6 ft for the purpose of shrimp culture) with a shape of square or rectangle is constructed to develop a shrimp farm. The other associated cost invested within the gher for the development of shrimp and shrimp farm is called operational cost are describe below

Operational Cost

The operational cost included shrimp pond preparation, land preparation, collection of shrimp fry, water purification, food, medicine and fertilizer. Harvesting and marketing of the shrimp also included in this cost. In some cases, it is included of land rental or lease cost. Lease cost for shrimp farming is increased gradually. The farmers have to pay Taka 20,000-25000 per ha per year. Usually the lease cost is fixed for a given period of time i.e. the lease contact period which is commonly one- three years. Average lease rate from 19975-99 in Rampal Thana is shown in Table 7.5.

Table 7.5  Average, minimum and maximum lease cost per ha per year from 1994-99

Annual lease cost Taka per ha	1975	1985	1999
Average	2316	5096	6023
Minimum	1782	2376	2376
Maximum	2851	7603	9504

Source: Field Survey, 1999

The average operational cost for the households with their owned ghers was 33,341 Taka/ha/crop. The average operational cost for households with rented ghers was 38,258 Taka/ha/crop. The operational cost by items is shown in Figure 7.1. The price of shrimp fry, pond preparation and labour wages were the first, second and third highest items in terms of operational cost.

Table 7.1 Distribution of shrimp farming operational cost by items

Items	Cost in taka
Lease	6023
Pond preparation	4256
Land preparation	1464
Fri collection	13146
Water purification	373
Liming	247
Fertilizer	578
Wage	9184
Food	603
Medicine	487
Harvesting	1136
Marketing	760
Total	38258

Shrimp farming operational cost excluding lease cost of land

Items	Cost in taka
Pond preparation	4256
Land preparation	1464
Fri collection	13146
Water purification	373
Liming	247
Fertilizer	578
Wage	9184
Food	603
Medicine	487
Harvesting	1136
Marketing	760
Total	32235

 

Shrimp production

Harvesting of matured shrimp started after 2-3 months of first stocked fry in the farms. And after that in every ‘gons’ (occur every 15 days interval on the basis of full moon and new moon) farmers harvest their produce on regular basis. Generally, when the size of shrimps are 15 grade (15 shrimps make one kilogram), or 20 grade or 40 grade, farmers are harvested with out any hesitation. Most of respondents informed that they sell their produce from the farm/gher gate as soon as it is harvested. Production of  shrimp was increased  after changing from traditional extensive cultivation to improve extensive cultivation. Average production of shrimp was 87.25 kg/ha in 1975 and increased at 179.86 kg/ha. Shrimp production by the year 1999 was 202.92 kg/ha/yr and calculated increasing rate during 1975-99 was 132 per cent (Table 7.6). 

Table 7.6  Production of shrimp in different years

Fish	Production in kg per Hectare			Increasing rate (%)
	1975	1985	1999	1975-85	1985-99	1975-99
Shrimp	157.94	179.86	202.56	13.87	12.62	28.25

Source: Field Survey, 1999

Different prices for different sizes of shrimp were found in the study area. The local market price depends on the international market price. In 1999 the average price of 15 grade shrimp was 500 Taka, at the same time minimum and maximum prices was Taka 425 and Taka 550 respectively (Table 7.7).

Table 7.7 Price per kilogram of shrimp on different sizes in 1999.

Price level	15 grade Taka ($)	20 grade Taka ($)	30 grade Taka ($)	40 grade Taka ($)
Average	500 (10.0)	450  (9.0)	400  (8.0)	300  (6.0)
Minimum	425 (8.5)	375  (7.5)	325  (7.0)	250  (5.0)
Maximum	550 (10.5)	475  (9.5)	450  (9.0)	350  (7.0)

Source: Field Survey, 1999

Net annual income

In this study, the net income is calculated by deducting operation cost from gross income. The gross annual income is obtained from multiplying the production of the total crops by the sale price. The annual operational cost is computed by total annual cost had been incurred by starting of shrimp to marketing of the harvested shrimp. It should be emphasized that the capital cost and the loss of opportunity cost are not included in the calculation.

The net annual income of the households with their own ghers was 2,4998 Taka/ha. Table 7.8 shows the summary of the cost-benefit statement of shrimp in the study area.

Table 7.8: Cost-benefit statement of shrimp

Crop	Operational cost /ha	Gross income/ha	Net income/ha
Shrimp (own gher)	32,235	58,336	2,4995
Shrimp (Rented gher)	38,258	58,336	2,0078

Source: Field Survey, 1999

7.3 Cost Associate with Agricultural Farming

Table 7.1 Distribution of agricultural farming operational cost by items

Items	Year
	1975		1985		1999
	f	%	f	%	f	%
Land preparation	599.08	33.26	1010.44	23.45	2105.71	29.34
Seed	174.73	9.70	339.29	7.87	581.62	8.11
Transplantation	561.89	31.19	820.72	19.05	1485.19	20.70
Fertilizer	0.00	0.00	382.79	8.88	718.22	10.01
Weed	360.00	19.98	597.62	13.87	820.58	11.43
Pesticides	237.50	13.18	342.00	7.94	506.81	7.06
Harvesting	641.95	35.64	816.41	18.95	957.94	13.35
Total	1801.34	100.00	4309.29	100.00	7176.07	100.00

 Agricultural Production

Agricultural production in the study area is classified rice based shrimp farming. Transplanted aman rice is the most dominant cropping pattern in the study area. Table 7.11 depicts wheat, jute and sugarcane were badly affected and now is not possible to grown due loss of fertility in the soil by the presence salinity.

Table 7.11: Trend of major crop yields per m. ton from 1975-99

Types of crops	Yearly production in m. ton			Growth rate
	1975	1985	1999	1975-85	1985-99	1975-99
Paddy	3.42	2.12	1.04	-38.01	-50.94	-69.59
Wheat	0.84	0	0	-100.00	-	-100.00
Jute	0.85	0	0	-100.00	-	-100.00
Oil Seed	0.73	0.57	0.36	-21.92	-36.84	-50.68
Sugarcane	0.99	0	0	-100.00	-	-100.00
Pulses	0.66	0.59	0.53	-10.61	-10.17	-19.70
Pepper	1.44	0.76	0.62	-47.22	-18.42	-56.94
Vegetables	2.74	1.2	0.83	-56.20	-30.83	-69.71
Fruits	2.54	1.19	0.78	-53.15	-34.45	-69.29

Source: Field Survey, 1999

Though the people in the study area were trying hard to produce only one paddy crop (aman). But during field survey in 1999, the respondent reported that after transplanting of aman paddy the farmers failed to interest harvesting of the paddy due to very poor yield.

Table 7.7 Price per kilogram of different agricultural crops in 1999.

Types of	Average price			Minimum price			Maximum price
	1975	1985	1999	1975	1985	1999	1975	1985	1999
Crops
Paddy
Wheat
Jute
Oil seed
Sugarcane
Pulses
Paper
Vegetables
Fruits

Source: Field Survey, 1999

The gross income from rice production is presented on the Table 7.9 and more detail from the Appendix 7.1. It was found that the average gross income decreased from Taka 44/ha/year in 1975 to Taka 42/ha/year in 1999 (or %). 

Table 7.8: Cost-benefit statement of agricultural crops

Crop	Operational cost /ha	Gross income/ha	Net income/ha
Paddy	7176	9521	2345

Source: Field Survey, 1999

Homestead Garden Production

Homestead gardening is also an important agricultural activity in the area and is the sources of household income. In the study area, homestead gardens area includes mango, jackfruit, coconut, banana, papaya, betel nut etc., are mentioned (Table 7.11) in the previous chapter and some kinds of vegetables for some home consumption or selling.  

Animal Husbandry

The animals in the study area comprises of cattle, buffaloes, goat, ducks and chicken which are kept by most families for various purposes. Duck and chicken either for consumption or cash.

  

7.3.3 Crop Yield

Crop production in saline soils is constrained by salt accumulation and concentration in the crop root-zone. Crop production is possibly affected when the salt concentration in the root-zone is diluted or leached below the root-zone (Z. Karim and et. al. 1990; Flowers 1999). The crop tolerance limits (2,000 micromhos) in the saline affected areas surpassed causing phenomenal decrease in crop yield (Flowers 1999) in the region. Rice suffer 10 percent yield reduction when the salinity tolerance limit of 2,000 micromhos is exceeded and when water salinity exceeded 4800 micromhos yield is reduced by 50 percent (Ayers and Westcot, 1976). Table 7.9 below shows the soil salinity classification on the basis of plant growth condition.

Table 7.9: Soil Salinity Classification on the basis of Plant Growth Condition.

Salinity Class	Ec x 103	Plant growth condition
	dS m-1
None saline (S0 )	<2	Salinity effects mostly negligible
Slightly saline (S1 )	2 - 4	Yields of very sensitive crops may be restricted
Moderate saline (S2 )	4 - 8	Yields of many crops are restricted
Saline (S3 )	8 - 16	Only tolerant crops yield satisfactorily
Highly saline (S4 )	> 16	Only very tolerant crops yield satisfactorily

            Source: Karim, Z. et al. 1990

Early vegetative stages are sensitive to high salinity (Table 7.10). Seventy five per cent of yield reduction has been recorded from rice field at soil crop EC_extract 14 dSm^–1, maintained during the early vegetative stages.

Table 7.10: Per cent Decrease of yield due to soil salinity at early Growth and reproductive stages of rice

Stages	ECextract Values (dSm–1)
	3	8	14	21
Early growth stages	0	50	75	96
Reproductive stages	0	0	10	52

Source: Karim Z. 1990 (Compiled from Das and Mehrota 1971; BRRI 1983 and BARC (1981-82, 1982-83)

Thus, about 97 percent of the respondents in the affected area think that the productive land of study area, which once used to yield bumper crops, has now been salinized by prolonged water congestion (Jalal, 1990) and that its productivity has been drastically reduced (Mahmud, 1988). Indeed most croplands have become completely fallow, as they are no longer productive (R. Atiur, 1995).

 Although it is risky to draw a conclusion based on a relatively short time-series data (1975, 1985 and 1999), there is evidence that the yield of rice grown in rotation with shrimp decline over time.  It is evident that the critical factor in minimizing the impact of shrimp farming is the proper timing and abundance of fresh water to flush saline water and leach the salinity of soils.

 7.5 Livestock and Poultry

Livestock and poultry play a crucial role in the traditional agricultural economy of Bangladesh. Cattle and buffaloes provide draught power for ploughing, hauling, road and farm transport, threshing and crushing. About 20 per cent of input for crop production is provided by draught power (BBS, 1986). Goats and sheep contribute meat, skin and some wool. Poultry provide eggs and meat. This sector also provide fuel and manure through dung and cash income through the sale of live animals, meat, skin, hide, milk products, eggs and hiring out of draught animals. Livestock and poultry account for 5 per cent of the gross domestic product (BBS, 1986). Table 7.12 gives the 1983-84 information on livestock nationally, regionally and locally. The bovines per household in these three units were 2.51, 4.14 and 4.09 respectively compared to national average of 1.60. Similarly were the cases with buffalo, goat and poultry.

Table 7.12: Livestock and Poultry Structure

Name of area	Total household	Bovine per household	Sheep & Goat per household	Poultry per household
Bangladesh	13817646	1.6	1.03	5.33
Khulna Region	618746	1.90	1.02	4.03
Bagerhat Dist.
Rampal Thana

Source: Bangladesh Census of Livestock: 1983-84, Vol. I, BBS, 1986, pp. 109-12 and Zila Series, Bagerhat, BBS 1988, pp. 148-50.

It is of course, very difficult to isolate the effects of shrimp culture from the general trends like those stated all over the country. But certainly, the coastal area has been witnessing sharp declines in the production of livestock and poultry. It is also reported that ducks are not allowed into shrimp farms and poultry birds are not finding their grazing field. There is definitely some pressure on poultry and duck raising in the shrimp producing areas. Due loosing the grazing land by shrimp cultivation it is reported that about 9 cores 12 laks taka livestock resources were damaged (The daily Ittefaque 16^th May’99).

Livestock fodder is very rarely available in the study area due to limited agriculture in the shrimp farm areas. Thus, availability of paddy straw is very difficult. So the number of various types of livestock have suddenly declined substantially. Before shrimp cultivation, there were on average 5 cows per household in the study area. Now (1999) the number has come down to 2 (Table 7.13). The goats are useful income-earning animals that can be reared by younger children and women in a sustainable way with out much effort. But in the study area natural environment is not even hospitable to these small animals. Thus, average number per household has drastically declined due to non-availability of grazing land.

Table 7.13: Average number of livestock and poultry in the study area

Livestock/poultry	Average number per household			Percentage of change
	1975	1985	1999	1975-85	1985-99	1975-99
Cattle	6.88	3.89	1.56	-43.55	-59.74	-77.27
Buffalo	1.85	0.80	0.25	-56.58	-69.33	-86.69
Goat	3.45	1.87	0.69	-45.85	-63.18	-80.06
Duck	35.57	14.63	9.48	-58.89	-35.19	-73.36
Chicken	22.99	13.41	10.52	-41.68	-21.56	-54.25

Source: Field Survey, 1999

Table 7.14 shows that number of livestock and poultry have been decreased. Growth rate of livestock and poultry most of the cases were found highly negative. Decreasing rate in the year 1999-75 was mostly double of the year of 1985-75. Thus, if the trend of the growth continued like this way, the livestock particularly buffalo and goat will be vanished after the year of a century.

 Other studies (R. Atiur and et. al. 1995), about 96 per cent of the respondents said absence of grazing ground as the most important factor responsible for the decline livestock. 87 per cent of them livestock die of diseases after taking saline water and 26 per cent of the respondents said that livestock mortality increased after water logging.

Most of the respondents from the study area said that the number of poultry birds had declined due to water logging in the shrimp. Population of various wild animals such as mongooses, squirrels, wild cats, foxes, cobra, turtles, vultures is reported to be dwindling because of the destruction of bushes and jungles, water logging and encroachment of higher salinity.