Md. Ashraful Hoque
Technical Specialist
USAID-AIN Project,
WorldFish-Bangladesh
Introduction:
Shrimp sector in Bangladesh play a vital role in respect of the country economy, job opportunities, more stable and diversified livelihood opportunities increase in income and food security to the adjacent people in the coastal areas of Bangladesh and it is the second highest foreign exchange earning source. The impact of the shrimp farming process has economic, social and environmental dimensions. In Bangladesh shrimp farming has negative ecological impact in terms of salinity increase, destroying marine species and also loss of bio-diversity. As an alternative of the negative impact on ecology, the economic importance of shrimp can’t be ignored for a developing country like Bangladesh. Proper management and planning can be provided a sustainable growth and advantage of shrimp farming as well as will be responded positive impact on environment. Pollution, destruction of sensible coastal habits, threats to aquatic bio-diversity and significant socio-economic cost must me balance against the direct economic benefits or earning from the shrimp farming.
Problem and constraints:
The shrimp is the
second largest export earning industry of the country. But still now the
production very is very low compare to other countries due to follow almost
traditional culture system. To increase the production of shrimp it is very
essential to follow improved technologies. The technical problems are related
to production systems because the lack of scientific knowledge and
technologies, attack diseases frequently in shrimp farms. Insufficient
cooperation of concern authorities, not availability of quality of screened PL
are also threats for the expansion of shrimp culture. In the present situation,
there is no alternative rather than vertically expansion of shrimp farming and
for this the improved culture techniques are very essential for boost production
of shrimp to contribute in the economy of the country. Anyway, there are many
constraints and problems which prevailed behind shrimp production are mentioned
as: Traditional farming techniques, frequently viral diseases due to
insufficient knowledge on f improved culture systems, low water depth, huge
algae growing in ghers, low survival rate and sometimes huge mortality
of shrimp PL, lack of disease free and quality post larvae, shortage of good
quality brood, poor infrastructure facilities including electricity, water
quality determination in shrimp farms and don’t take any measure due to
insufficiency knowledge on water quality management of the shrimp farmers, lack
of stocking density and acclimatization during stocking PL and nursery practice
is not available, frequent fluctuation of international market price, regular
increase of input cost, poor land leasing system, conflicts among
institution/organizations, poor water management system, weak policy
implementation, insufficient research initiatives, lack of proper coordination
among the different stakeholders associated with the shrimp industry, lack of
extensive service from government and non-government organizations, financial
difficulties such as- lack of institutional credit, complicacy for credit
system, high interest in credit and lack of marketing facilities, competition
between alternative lands uses (agriculture, forestry, livestock grazing etc.),
shrimp farming in Khulna, Bagerhat and Satkhira areas has reduce the categories
of fishes and shrimp farming has also serious ecological impact on the coastal
bio-diversity.
Prospect of shrimp
farming:
However, the shrimp
sector in Bangladesh is facing several challenges, such as low farm yield, poor
quality, WSSV incidence etc. are crucial issues hindering expected growth.
Regardless of the high demand for this product, shrimp farming is still
characterized as being traditional and having low productivity. In this
situation, WorldFish- Bangladesh has taken initiative activities and
thought through the AIN project with the finance assistance of USAID for
improving resource use effectiveness to boost productivity of shrimp farmers at
farm level in a sustainable manner through dissemination of improved and
bio-secured shrimp culture technologies namely Better Management Practice
(BMP), Modified Traditional Technology (MTT), Closed System Technology (CST)
Training shrimp farmers, improved water management, low cost feeding and
fertilization and better pond management, stocking SPF (Specific Pathogen Free)
and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tested White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV)
free post larvae (PL) are some of the features of the improved technology being
followed the previous project to increase production effectiveness. This
project suggested to stock screened shrimp PLs in gher farming those are come
only from hatcheries which can be minimized the outbreak of Viral disease, less
contamination and also be minimized the negative environmental impacts by
practicing the environment friendly improved shrimp farming technologies
and also focus on shrimp farming systems, their productivity, changing pattern
of environmental issues and some extend on the socio-economic aspect of the
adjacent dependent people in the coastal region of Bangladesh and assessing the
potential for future improvements is considered essential for establishing an
environment friendly sustainable shrimp culture. It is noted that through the
improved technologies of Better Management Practice (BMP), Modified Traditional
Technology (MTT) and Closed System Technology (CST) is easily possible to
produce of shrimp 300-400 Kgs/hectare, 600-700 Kgs/hectare and 1500-2000
Kgs/hectare respectively and also in semi-intensive method it can produce
5000-6000 Kgs/hectare land which are the boost production than the national
average production and could be great contribution in the country economy and
livelihoods. On the other hand, if it is possible to adopt at least 20-30% of
the total shrimp ghers into improved extensive shrimp farming method and
10-20% of the total shrimp ghers into semi-intensive method, the shrimp
sector will be contributed the highest foreign exchange earning source of the
country. The future prospects of shrimp cultivation in Bangladesh is very high,
because of there is increasing demand of shrimp in the developed country like –
USA, UK, Japan etc. they also want to increase the import of shrimp from our
country, the environmental condition of Bangladesh is very much helpful for the
shrimp cultivation that it has high potentiality to grow, per hector production
of shrimp in Bangladesh is not efficient enough it means we can increase our
shrimp production without increasing the land for production, which indicates
more export earnings, labor forces used for shrimp cultivation is not skilled
enough, if proper training program can be taken production can also be
increased and this sector provides increasing employment opportunities in the
south western region of the country.
Conclusion and recommendation:
In our developing
country it is almost evident that the present culture systems of shrimp are
indigenous and extensive type and there is acute shortage of proper plan and
technical knowledge among the shrimp farmers but shrimp is one of the major
sources of export earnings of Bangladesh. A larger number of people are already
involved with the production, processing and export of shrimp of the shrimp.
Despite of these advantages shrimp cultivation has serious impacts on the
environment, society, people and other factors of the southwestern region of
the country. On the other hand though it is the second highest export earnings
source of the country government has no proper guidelines, rules and
regulations for shrimp cultivation and exportation. Anyway, from the
whole discussion, some general recommendations for the development of shrimp
culture in Khulna, Bagerhat and Satkhira districts to facilitate high
production in the sustainable manner are concluded- Government should have
introduced a clear guideline for shrimp culture and proper implementation
considering environment friendly sustainable shrimp systems, Government should
have created a regulatory authority to monitor this process and taken proper
step, the selection of land for shrimp farming should be under proper guideline
prescribed by the government, need to introduce training program for making
skilled workers regarding improved culture techniques and reducing unemployment
people of this region, need to take initiative activities to build up awareness
among the shrimp farmers regarding improved culture techniques knowledge
considering environment friendly sustainable increased of shrimp production,
for enhancing the per unit production, improved or better management and
judicious utilization of common resources should be brought under stringent
regulations, need to take initiative for proper water management systems,
ensure PCR testing for all post larvae, need to take initiative activities to
adaptation of improved shrimp farming systems, need initiative for
required infrastructure development, ensure supply of screened and quality post
larvae, the large ghers should be converted into smaller cluster units
with modern drainage as well as simple effluent treatment systems,
proper implementation of shrimp policy, need coordination among different
ministry and institutions, need to develop of research facilities, strong
research initiatives for improved culture systems and dissemination of the
research knowledge to the shrimp farmers, can be conducted advance research to
find out the possibility of cultivating the saline water shrimp into sweet
water, which can be totally remove the environmental impact of shrimp farming.
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