Shifting from paddy production for aquaculture: An economic study in a selected area of Bangladesh

Abstract

Shifting rice cultivation to aquaculture is a burning issue of agricultural land use policy in Bangladesh. The study was conducted to identify the reasons for change the paddy farming to fish culture and relative profitability of both enterprises randomly selected 50 sample farmers from Mymensingh district in Bangladesh. Primary data were collected through field survey. Mostly tabular analysis was done to achieve the objectives. To determine the net return of fish and rice production, profitability analysis was applied. The findings revealed that 70% of the respondents belonged to the age group of 30-64 years and average annual income and expenditure were Tk. 2333234 (US$ 24874.56) and Tk. 2025860 (US$ 21597.65), respectively. About 96 % of the respondents said that the profit motive was one of the main reasons to shift rice farming to aquaculture. Per hectare per/season gross margin and net return were Tk. 545994 (US$ 5820.83) and Tk. 487494 (US$ 5197.16), respectively for fish culture and Tk. 16404.00 (US$ 174.88) and Tk. 7064.00 (US$ 75.31), respectively, for rice cultivation. The BCR of fish culture and rice cultivation was 1.86 and 1.07, respectively (Full cost basis). Lower profit and scarcity of labour in harvesting period were the main problems faced by the rice farmers. Diseases and high feed cost were the main problems faced by the fish farmers. The fair price of paddy and the supply of paddy harvesting machineries need to be ensured by the government and other agencies to make profitable agribusiness by the rice farmers.

Spatiotemporal mapping of rice acreage and productivity growth in Bangladesh

“…This shift is driven by factors such as erratic rainfall, fluctuations in temperature, a shortage of labourers, limited economic benefits, and difficulties in accessing agricultural inputs [56]. Relative profitability, labour shortages, and low land topography are the key determinants of converting rice fields into aquaculture farming in the districts of Mymensingh and Khulna [57][58][59]. Shortage of labour and low price of rice also discourage farmers from growing rice instead of other crops.…”

Cost-benefit ratio analysis of freshwater aquaculture in selected area of Southern Bangladesh

“…One of the most significant inputs in the fish farming industry is labor (Ahmed, 2007). Study suggested that, most of labors are involved in pond management and feeding application works, while some of them are engaged with the security purpose, chemical application, and harvesting procedure (Ahmed, 2007;Asad et al, 2022;Jahan et al, 2021;Meah and Akther, 2021;Rahman et al, 2022;Saha et al, 2004;Sujan et al, 2021). However, the labor cost might be different due to geographical locations, availability, price of food, demand and supply, economic and food inflation (Guha and Tripathi, 2014;Taghizadeh-Hesary et al, 2019).…”

Factors driving the shifting of land from rice to aquaculture farming in Bangladesh

“…Different types of land use decisions are more common among small farmers (Islam et al, 2020). The transition from rice farming to aquaculture is a subject of ongoing deliberation within the agricultural land usage policy of Bangladesh, which has the potential to impact the farmers' capacity to enhance the array of their income sources (Rahman et al, 2022). Farmers' perceptions of profitability, amount of land owned, level of education, annual income, and farming experience are all important considerations when making the switch from rice cultivation to smallscale aquaculture (Anisuzzaman et al, 2015;Rasel, 2016).…”