Assessment of the Livelihood Status of the Carp Fish Farmers in Two Unions of Puthia Upazila Under Rajshahi District, Bangladesh

Abstract

Nowadays, carp culture has become an important sector in terms of nutrition supply, income generation, and increasing scope of employment in Bangladesh. The present survey was conducted to evaluate the livelihood condition of the carp fish farmers in the Shilmaria and Valukgasi unions of Puthia upazila under the Rajshahi district. The survey was done for a period of 6 months from January to June 2023. All the necessary data were collected through a structured questionnaire. Sixty farmers were included in this study. Thirty farmers were taken from the Shilmaria union and another thirty farmers were taken from the Valukgasi union. All of them were involved in carp fish farming. The average pond size of the study area was 0.35 ha. The ponds are belonging to both single (23%) and multiple ownership (77%). The majority of the carp farmers were under the age group of 41 to 50 years and had a level of education up to primary (23%). Most of the farmers were Muslims (98%) and few of them were Hindus (2%). The annual incomes of the majority of carp farmers (30%) were above Tk. 1,00,000. Sixty-seven percent of the carp farmers used semi-pucca sanitary, 22% used pucca sanitary, and 12% used kacha sanitary. Among the sample farmers, about 32% had half-building house while 14%, 11%, and 3% of the farmers had tin shed, building, and kacha house (made of mud and straw) respectively. Ninety-eight percent of the carp fish farmers availed of electricity facilities and 2% of them did not have. Most of the carp farmers (92%) used their tube well, while a few numbers of them (8%) used a neighbor's tube well for drinking water. About 60% of the carp farmers took health services from village doctors, 22% went to the upazila health complex, 8% went to the district hospital and 10% had access to the MBBS doctors in private clinics. The major constraints were the lack of scientific knowledge, the high price of fish feed, and a lack of capital for carp fish culture. So, the livelihood status of the carp fish farmer can be increased through proper training on carp fish culture and providing additional Government and Non-Government support.