Asian-Pacific Aquaculture 2019

June 19 - 21, 2019

Chennai Tamil Nadu - India

WORKING PROFILE AND OCCUPATIONAL INJURIES AMONG THE SHRIMP FARM WORKERS

 Suchismita Prusty* and Arpita Sharma
 Fisheries Economics, Extension & Statistics Division
 ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Education,Mumbai-400061,India   
 Presenting author*: suchismita.fexma705@cife.edu.in
 

Shrimp farm is a growing industry and has an opportunity to employ a number of people. In the state of Andhra Pradesh there are 1,57,000 ha is under scientific shrimp farming area. However, statistics on number of workers involved in shrimp farms is not available. This paper assesses the profile of workers in shrimp farming and the occupational injuries faced by them. Information was collected through interview schedule and discussion with shimp farm and hatchery workers of East Godavari, Andhra Pradesh. Results showed that workers are involved in hatchery and farm work. The work usually done by hatchery worker is tank cleaning/painting, artemia decapsulation, live feed culture, brood stock management, Nauplius, zoea and PL management and PL packaging etc. Farm workers are involved in the activities like excavation of ponds, construction of dykes, farm operations like application of feed and other inputs, checking the water quality, harvesting  etc. Study on profile of workers revealed that average age of hatchery workers was 22.26 years and for farm workers it was 36.6 years. Working experience of the farm workers (19.73 years) was more than hatchery workers (2.16 years). Farm workers had lower education level while 60% of hatchery workers  had primary and secondary education. Daily working hours of workers in farm and hatchery was reported to be 8 and 11 hours respectively. Remuneration of farm workers was more (Rs.11,000/ Month) than hatchery workers (Rs.9,000/ month). Along with the remuneration, additional benefits of food, lodging and medicine is also provided. Most of the farm workers were local from nearby villages whereas most hatchery workers were  from Visakhapatnam district which is about 150 kms away. Study on occupational injuries revealed that 90% of shrimp farm and hatchery workers have faced some kind of occupational injuries. The occupational injuries could be classified into physical, chemical, biological, ergonomics and psychosocial. A total of 33% workers reported physical injuries which included fall, cut, sprain, head injury and electric shock. About 17% reported chemical injuries are like skin infection, burnt skin, respiratory problems and eye infection. Biological injuries like snake bite, skin irritation and dysentery were reported to be 13%. Ergonomics injuries like hand pain, shoulder pain, neck and back pain were reported by 17%. Psychosocial injuries included frustration, mental irritation and anxiety which were faced by 17% workers. Study has found that shrimp farming provides employment opportunities to workers. However, they are exposed to occupational injuries of different kinds for which prevention measures are required. So it is recommended that appropriate policy should be in place to address occupational issues of shrimp farm workers.