Livelihood Status of Fishing Community of Talma River in the Northern Part of Bangladesh

Abstract

The study was conducted to investigate the socio-economic profiles of the fishermen of river Talma in Panchagarh district in the Northern part of Bangladesh. Pertinent information was collected from fifty randomly selected fishermen from the study area during the period of eight months from March to October, 2014. In the study area the fishermen age range from 20 to 66 years. It was found that most of the fishermen (58%) illiterate though a small proportion completed primary level of education. Among them Muslims were 86% and Hindus 14%. About 68% of the fishermen had tin shed with bamboo house, while 26% and 6% of them had tin shed with tin and straw house, respectively. Annual income of the fishermen ranged from 35001-55000 BDT and they had large family size (member above 7) constituted 36%. Forty eight percent of the fishermen used their own tube-well, while 40% and 12% used government and neighbors’ tube-well, respectively. About 80% of the fishermen used kacha toilets and 16% semi pakka toilets and 6% of the fishermen had no sanitary facilities. In the study area, 86% of the fishermen were far from power plants and the rest of them had (14%) access to electricity. Majority (46%) of the fishermen was landless, while 38% had 1-20 decimal lands and 16% had above 20 decimal lands and significant proportion of fishermen depend upon village doctors (64%) for their health facilities. Seventy six percent of fishermen were engaged in fishing as their main occupation, 16% in agriculture and 8% in daily labor. The study revealed that the fishermen of Talma River were mostly illiterate, poor income, lack of training exposure and lack of awareness about their health facilities and sanitation. So, provide soft term loan and building people awareness have been suggested to improve the livelihood status of fishermen in Talma River