34 MARCH 2013 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WAS.ORG chemicals and medicine as inputs to conventional farms. The OSP provides work for 250 people in the internal control system and collection centers, but comparatively fewer workers are needed in the organic than conventional shrimp chain. The OSP claims that jobs represent full-time employment and further education, which is an improvement over the less certain and casual labor in the conventional trade. Some organic farmers are dissatisfied with the price offered for organic shrimp. They complain that the price they receive for their high quality, environmentally friendly product is not necessarily greater, and sometimes even less than the conventional shrimp market price. The question of price is an important one, with the OSP not yet fulfilling the criteria to become fair-trade certified. Some issues arise at the collection center during good and long harvests, when the OSP cannot accept all the shrimp farmers bring because the processing plant does not have sufficient capacity to process all the shrimp on the same day. However, the main negative aspect of organic shrimp farming mentioned by all farmers is that the risk of disease remains, although it is reduced by using high-quality organic PLs and lower stocking densities. A central challenge for the project is to ensure that the product can be considered organic. A canal system provides saline water for all shrimp farms (conventional and organic) in the area, which are thus subject to contaminants. In response, the OSP implemented the project in clusters of about 40 neighboring farms. The disadvantage of this approach is that the cluster may include farmers who are not really convinced of organic principles and more likely to cheat or not comply with standards. To avoid this risk, the OSP has an internal control and certification system and farmers are punished or excluded from the project in case of fraud. This system demands a significant bureaucracy that increases costs of the product. Is an Organic Future a Sustainable Future? Organic production potentially presents a more sustainable and ethical way forward in the short and long run, while also presenting a better option technically, although substantial work is needed to convince farmers to change production methods. Organic shrimp aquaculture provides advantages for all actors along the value chain with comparatively few disadvantages. Research and education will play an important role in empowering people to make their own judgments about what they consider positive for their country, community, and environment. The Organic Shrimp Project in Bangladesh is in the early stages and may not yet do enough to be called sustainable, but should be encouraged to continue together with the farmers because the farmers cannot turn back. Notes 1 University of Bergen, Norway. lhensler@gmx.de References Absar, S.S. 2001. Problems surrounding wages: the ready made garments sector in Bangladesh. Labour and Management in Development 2(7):1-17 Ahmed, F.E. 2004. The Rise of the Bangladesh Garment Industry: Globalization, Women Workers, and Voice. NWSA Journal 16(2):34-45. Ahmed, N., M.A. Wahab, and S.H. Thilstead. 2007. Integrated aquaculture-agriculture systems in Bangladesh: Potential for sustainable livelihoods and nutritional security of the rural poor. Aquaculture Asia. 12(1):14-21. Ahsan, Mainul et al. 2012. Saline Soils in Bangladesh. Soil fertility Assessment, Soil degradation, and its Impact on Agriculture Program. Soil Resource Development Institute, Dhaka. Carbonara, S. 2012. Assessing the contribution of aquatic by-catch from shrimp and prawn farming to rural livelihoods in southeast Bangladesh. M.S. thesis. Datta, D.K., K. Roy, and N. Hassan. 2010. Shrimp culture: Trend, consequences and sustainability in the south-western coastal region of Bangladesh. Pages 227-244 in A L. Ramanathan, P. Bhattacharya, T. Dittmar, M. Bala Krishna Prasad, and B. R. Neupane, editors. Management and Sustainable Development of Coastal Zone Environments. Springer Netherlands. DoF. 2010. Annual Report. Department of Fisheries, People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh Fisheries Resources Survey System. 2007. Fisheries Statistical Yearbook of Bangladesh. Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock. GATE Project and Development & Training Services. 2006. A
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