Improvement of Livelihood through Fish Farming in Haor Areas of Bangladesh

The major purpose of the study was to determine the livelihood of fish farmers through fish farming in Tarail upazila under Kishoregonj district. Livelihood situation of fish farmers was measured on the basis of five dimensions such as the change in i) food intake, ii) household condition, iii) physical assets, iv) sanitation and v) income due to involvement in fish farming activities. Data were collected by using a pretested interview schedule through personal interview method during July 2014 from 60 fish farmers. The paired t-test was used to measure the comparative change of ‘before’ and ‘after’ involvement in fish farming. The findings revealed that food intake, housing condition, physical assets, sanitation and income all are increased significantly among the respondents. The average food consumption increased to 2279.40 Kcal from 941.28 Kcal, average housing condition increased to 2.58 from 1.38 which indicates move towards having building house, average physical assets increased to 39.83 from 14.73, sanitation increased to 2.38 from 1.40 which indicates move towards paka latrine and income increased to 48.80 thousand to 37.30 thousand per year. The results indicate the betterment of livelihood of fish farmers due to involvement in fish farming. The fish farmers face some problems such as fish disease problem, over flood problem, lack of market facilities, high cost of fertilizer and fish feed, lack of knowledge on application of fish feed and fertilizer, unavailability of quality seed and species etc. Support from DoF and NGOs working in fisheries sector should be provided to manage these problems. Therefore, it will improve the livelihood of fish farmers in the study area.