Role of women in pond fish farming and fish consumption situation in a selected area of Bangladesh

Abstract

In Bangladesh, aquaculture makes an important contribution to rural livelihoods for food security, nutrition security and cash income. Small-scale fisheries typically depend on men and women’s roles. The Bangladesh fisheries sector is seen as a male domain and the contribution of women is poorly recognized. This study is concerned with the contribution of rural women in different activities of pond fish farming, profitability of pond fish culture, fish consumption level of the sample households and problems and constraints in pond fish farming. For achieving these objectives, 60 women pond fish farmers were selected randomly from Muktagacha upazila of Mymensingh district in Bangladesh. Primary data were collected personally from respondents through a sample survey with the help of a structured and pre-tested interview schedule. Both tabular and econometric techniques were used to analyze the collected data. The major findings indicated that a total working hour in a season (six months) was 418 of an average 12 decimal pond sizes. Men contribute 62.68% (262 hours) and women contribute 37.32% (156 hours) of the total working hours in a season. The per hector/season production, gross return, gross margin and net return were Kg.18188, Tk. 1655108, Tk.740736 and Tk. 654202, respectively. Undiscounted benefit-cost ratio was found 1.65 in the study area. Average per capita fish consumption was 69.01 gm/day, which was higher than the nation average of 44.65 gm/person/day. The main problems faced by the respondents were high feed cost, disease, high labour demand, high cost of a pond excavation, etc. This research concludes that women play a significant role in pond fish farming and achieving household nutrition security. The government and policy makers should acknowledge the women’s contribution in different farming activities and make appropriate policy for women entrepreneurship development in Bangladesh which will lead to achieve sustainable development goals.