From rice fields to brackish water farms: changing livelihoods in agrarian coastal Bengal, India

Abstract

The present study attempted to understand the dimensions of changing agrarian livelihoods because of haphazard adaptation of capitalistic shrimp aquaculture. Specifically, using multi-temporal Google-based geodatabase, we quantified the artificial conversion of agrarian landscape in an inland freshwater region of coastal Bengal. Further, we examined the long-term viability of transformed livelihoods by adopting a modified version of the Sustainable Livelihood Approach (SLA). The assessment of changing livelihoods was based on empirical information acquired through field surveys, focus group discussion (FGD) and key informant interviews (KII). Results from the geostatistical analysis depicted that the shrimp culture in the research area was very recent. In 2010, only 0.03 percent of the total area was occupied by shrimp ponds. However, within a decade and an expansion rate of 18 percent/annum, the conversion spread to 1/3 of the total study area. The findings also clarified that the adaptation of shrimp cultivation increased the overall profit by 6400 USD/ha/year over agricultural output, and resulted in a quick rise in the standard of living for the shrimp farmers. However, in the long run, due to decreasing productivity and salinization of the surrounding land, the conversion resulted in massive depeasantization, augmentation of wasteland, and biased wealth accumulation led to a wide rich-poor gap. Therefore, the entire ecosystem will suffer in the near future, if the local government does not strictly impose Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).