| dc.description | Bangladesh is an agro-based developing country and is striving hard for rapid
improvement of its economy. It is often proved that the future improvement of the
country depends particularly on the agricultural sector. Fisheries is one of the major subsector in the agricultural sectors and plays an important role in the socio-economic
development of rural area, fulfilling the animal protein demand, creating employment
opportunity, alleviating poverty and earning foreign exchange for the country. About 1.2
million people are directly employed in this sector and another 12 million people
indirectly earn their livelihood out of activity related to fisheries (Islam, 2010).
Fish and fisheries sector have been directly and indirectly linked to the development of
the human’s earliest civilization. The fisheries sector is considered to be a thrust sector
for sustainable development and socio-economic advancement of rural fishermen and
fish farmers (Mazid, 2002). Fish and fishery resources play a vital role in developing the
socio-economic condition, combating malnutrition, earning foreign currency and
creating employment opportunities in Bangladesh. If the existing ponds are brought
under fish culture through proper planning, suitable management and re-excavation of
the water bodies, the present fish production level can easily be increased two to three
times of the existing level. | en_US |
| dc.description.abstract | The main purpose of the study was to identify the socio-economic characteristics of the
fish farmers, the existing pond fish culture system and problems associated with fish
culture. Data were collected from 70 fish farmers of 14 villages under 5 unions in
Parbatipur upazila under Dinajpur district during May 2016 to October 2016, through
personal interview. The study revealed that, most of the fish farmers were belonged to
the age group 31 to 40 years (44.29%) and represented 68.57% Muslims. Among the fish
farmers 17.14%, 40%, 30% and 12.86% had primary, secondary, higher secondary and
graduate level of education, respectively. Most of the family were nuclear which
contained 64.29% and rest of them joint family (35.71%). Most of the people involved in
agriculture (47.14%) for their main occupation and subsidiary involved fish farming
(52.86%) as a secondary occupation. 45.71% of the fish farmers used semi-pacca
sanitary, 40% used pacca sanitary while 14.29% used kancha sanitary. About 81.43% of
the farmers had electricity facilities and 41.42% of the fish farmers received health
service from village doctor’s. Among the fish farmers 8.57% received formal training for
fish culture system. It was found that, 88.57% of the fish farmers used their own money
for fish culture. The mean (±SE) pond size of the study area was 0.19±0.02 ha, where
16% ponds were seasonal and 84% ponds were perennial. The mean (±SE) stocking
density was 23208.34±3176 fry, fingerling and over wintered fish seed ha-1, the use of
organic fertilizer (mainly cowdung), urea and TSP used in the mean (±SE) were
8665.42±1265.45 kg ha-1
yr
-1, 210.08±23.72 kg ha-1
yr
-1 and 133.46±14.82 kg ha-1
yr
-1
,
respectively. For feeding purpose, rice-bran and mustard oil cake were used in the mean
(±SE) 419.18±107.76 kg ha-1
yr
-1 and 622.84±197.72 kg ha-1
yr
-1, respectively. Various
mega feed also used in the rate of mean (±SE) 410.28±118.63 kg ha-1 yr-1. The mean
(±SE) production of fish was found to be 3243.30±384.25 kg ha-1 yr-1. Fish farmers were
found to face various social, economic and technical problems, which were identified
throughout the study period. It is therefore, essential to provide the necessary training
facilities with institutional and organizational supports, credit facilities and extension
services for sustainable fish production and livelihoods of rural fish farmers.
Keywords: Fish farmers, Livelihood status, Pond fish culture | en_US |
