30 MARCH 2013 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WAS.ORG increasing salinity in ponds and surrounding areas, particularly in the absence of best practices for water management. When farmers in an area start to use salt water for shrimp production, their rice-farming neighbors are often forced to do the same because rice production becomes unproductive. The harmful use of fertilizers and pesticides in shrimp aquaculture has also affected soil quality, groundwater, and local ecosystems. Many farmers have not been educated about the benefits and risks of using chemical inputs and they implicitly trust the advice of local supply shop owners, who in turn are steered solely by what is written on the bottle or package. Dr. Khandaker Anisul Huq, Professor at Khulna University, says, “The main problem is the lack of information and education of the farmers, which, as a consequence, leads in some cases to irresponsible actions like the misuse of chemicals and poor water management.” However, this is a general problem that is also true for modern monoculture rice farming. “These subjects and broader environmental problems need to be integrated in the whole educational system to raise awareness,” emphasizes Dr. Huq. Shrimp farming in Bangladesh is mainly extensive and family-based, with just four semi-intensive shrimp farms in the whole country. The environmental impact of these extensive farms is comparatively less significant that more intensive operations in other Asian contexts. In practice, extensive Bangladeshi shrimp farms use very little (if any) artificial feed; rather, farmers encourage the growth of algae and plankton that grows naturally in ponds. The extensive system is advantageous in that a broad range of different species can also be grown in the pond, ranging from crabs to varieties of fish. Therefore, integrated polyculture is a more appropriate term than shrimp aquaculture. SEAT project research has shown that this biodiversity contributes about half of a farmer’s income from the gher by selling non-target species in local markets, while also augmenting family consumption (Carbonara 2012). What are the Social Costs of Economic Growth? The shrimp sector has had social consequences, leading some to say that it is good for the rich and bad for the poor. Arguably landless workers and poorer women in shrimp farming communities have been hit hardest. Some evidence suggests that there are fewer working opportunities in shrimp farming than in rice farming (Datta et al. 2010), although this is disputed by other evidence (Steinberg 2012). What is beyond dispute is that, as women traditionally work in agriculture, there is now less work for them. Women prefer to work in rice fields because the work on shrimp farms is physically more demanding. Employment along the shrimp supply-chain is usually characterized as insecure and seasonal, with jobs in farming and processing, meaning that families have little in the way of a stable income. Moreover, there is widespread gender FIGURE 2. Organic shrimp farmer harvesting shrimp from traps in the early morning near Kaligonj.
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