Socioeconomic and livelihood status of floodplain fish farmers in Kotalipara upazila, Gopalganj, Bangladesh

Abstract

This paper describes the socio-economic and livelihood status of adjacent floodplain fish farmers in Kotalipara upazila, Gopalganj, Bangladesh. A survey was conducted from July to December, 2020 to assess the present socio-economic status of the fish farmers in a floodplain of Gopalganj district. The survey revealed that the average age and experience of fish farmers were 40.50±14.5 and 17.5±7.15 years, respectively. It was also found that 76.64% of farmers were married, 21.50% were unmarried and 1.87% were widows. It was found that 62.60% fish farmers had a kacha house, 6.20% had a paka house, 26.60% had semi-paka house and only 4.70% had two storied. Sixty percent fish farmers have kacha toilets, 20 % semi-paka and 10% have no sanitary facilities. About 27% of fish farmers practiced monoculture fish culture and 73% farmers followed polyculture culture. It was tracked down that 48% of the fish farmers gathered fries/fingerlings from the fry merchants, 5% from the Govt. farms, 25% from the neighborhood nursery, 10% from personal nursery and extra 12% from local hatcheries. In the survey region about 15% fish farmers manage aquatic weeds, 25% fish farmers dried out their water reservoir, 55% fish farmers refit the pond dykes and 5% fish farmers eradicate the bed sludge. At the end of the study, 25% fish farmers said that economic well-being has improved exceptionally, 55% fish farmers said that social situations have improved marginally and 20% fish farmers are static. In the final part of the study, 73% fish farmers reported that they used loose feed, 9% used pellets and 18% used both types. In the survey location, fish production was 2,964 kg/ha. All fish farmers were fully dependent on floodplain fishery for their livelihood. It is possible to uplift their socioeconomic status by managing the floodplain with improved technology.