PROFITABILITY OF SHING FISH (HETEROPNEUSTES FOSSILIS) IN SOME SELECTED AREAS OF MYMENSINGH DISTRICT IN BANGLADESH

Abstract

Fish is one of the most valuable components of agricultural sector which contributes to the livelihoods and employment of millions of people in Bangladesh. In 2017-18, this sector contributes 3.57 percent to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and more than one-fourth (25.30 %) to the broad agricultural sector GDP, which plays a significant role in meeting the protein demand, earning foreign exchange and socio-economic development of the rural poor people. The overall objectives of the present study were to depicts the socio-demographic profile of shing producing farmers and estimates profitability of shing fish (Heteropneustes fossilis) at Haluaghat upazila in Mymensingh district where adequate amount of shing farm were available. We collected data from 60 sample farmers through face- to-face interview. After analyzing the data, per hectare gross return, net return, and gross margin were estimated as Tk. 1,720,891 Tk. 864768 and Tk. 953968 respectively. Per hectare total cost and total variable cost were calculated as Tk. 856123 and Tk. 766923 Finally, I found Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR) was 2.01 on total cost and 2.24 on cash cost basis which indicates that shing fish farming is highly profitable. In this thesis, I found five variables which are Fingerling cost, Human labor cost, Feed cost, Cost of fertilizer and cost of medicine where feed cost and Cost of fertilizer were highly significant and other three variables were insignificant in shing fish production. Moreover, I calculated R was 0.62 which indicated that goodness of fit of the regression model was satisfactory. In this study number of problems were also identified which were classified as technical problem, economical problems, and social problem during shing fish farming. Some policy recommendations were also given at the end of the study which will be helpful to the shing fish farmer to establish a well-planned production system.