Abstract
The water-bodies of shrimp/prawn farm are known as “gher” and the embankments of the gher are known as “Dyke”. Recently, vegetable production on the Dykes is gaining popularity in the southwest coastal region. The main purpose of the study was to identify the present status of Dyke Vegetable Production (DVP) in gher and to determine the problem confrontation associated with DVP. Data were collected from randomly selected 84 respondents (50% out of 168 gher owners) of five selected villages of Mollarhat upazila under Bagerhat district, through face-to-face interview using a pre-tested interview schedule during February to April, 2018. Collected data were analyzed by using SPSS software for different statistical techniques and for obtaining results and subsequent interpretation for satisfying the mentioned purpose of the study.Most (86.9%) of the respondents had medium to large sized Dykes, and thus the respondents could bring their Dyke area under vegetables cultivation instead of keeping fallow year after year. The gher owners harvested on an average 218.47 kg vegetable and earned 3,383.807 Tk. annually from one decimal Dyke area which is an additional income. The gher owners who have large sized Dyke in ghers continued production due to high quantity of cumulative profit. About half (51.19%) of the respondents grown lady’s finger in the Dykes during lean period followed by brinjal (48.81%) and tomato (47.61%). The respondents produced 53,962.09 kg ha-1 which is completely extra production contributing to food security. A number of 29 problems were identified as confronted by Dyke vegetables growers with different extent of severity. The most severe problem in Dyke vegetable farming in the study area was “lack of technical knowledge for identification of diseases”. Most of the respondents (96.4%) belonged to medium problem confrontation category. Among 13 selected characteristics of the respondents only annual family income showed a significant positive relationship and extension contact showed a negative significant relationship with the problem confrontation. The gher owners confront medium problems and appropriate measures should be undertaken to reduce these problems as minimum as possible.
 Res. Agric., Livest. Fish.6(1): 69-78, April 2019
Highlights
The coastal region of Bangladesh covers almost 29,000 km2 or about 20% of the country and more than 30% of the cultivable lands of the country (Haque, 2006)
It is clear from the study that all the respondents who are involved in Dyke vegetable production were not highly educated where none of the respondents had above higher secondary level of education
Majority of the respondents were middle to old aged farmers, had primary level of educational qualification followed by illiterate, having medium to high experience in farming and medium to low experience white-fish farming but low experience in Dyke vegetable production, and having small sized family, small sized farms, high annual income, low organizational participation, medium cosmopolitanism and medium extension media contact
Summary
The coastal region of Bangladesh covers almost 29,000 km or about 20% of the country and more than 30% of the cultivable lands of the country (Haque, 2006). The topsoil of nearly 223,000 ha of coastal arable land (27% of total cultivable land in the region) has been affected by various degrees of salinity during 1973-2009 due to decreasing freshwater flows of upstream rivers, an erratic rainfall pattern, the rise of brackish-water shrimp culture, tidal flooding, and capillary rise of dissolved salt (Kabir et al, 2015). There have been severe environmental impacts in the form of sedimentation, salinization, pollution, disease outbreaks, and loss of biodiversity (Kabir et al, 2015). This was mainly because of poorly planned and unscientific practices .Shrimp farming involved the introduction of exotic species and pathogens, and the ponds (gher) regularly discharged polluted water and sludge containing particulate matter, unused fish feed, fertilizer and other chemicals, microorganisms, and faeces (Kabir et al, 2015; Lin et al, 2011). The land and water resources of the coastal ecosystem were being degraded, resulting in decreased production of rice, vegetables and other crops (Rahman, 2011), livestock, and freshwater species, exacerbating food insecurity and livelihood vulnerability (Kabir et al, 2015)
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