PROFITABILITY AND RESOURCE USE EFFICIENCY OF SHRIMP AND PRAWN CULTURE IN SOUTHERN DISTRICTS OF BANGLADESH

Abstract

Fisheries sector is playing an important role in the economy of Bangladesh from the ancient time. The overall objectives of the present study were to examine the socio - economic profile of shrimp and prawn producing farmers, to assess profitability and resource use efficiency of shrimp and prawn farming. Bagerhat and Khulna district were selected for the study based on intensive cultivation of shrimp and prawn. Simple random sampling technique had been used for collecting data from 200 sample farmers (both shrimp and prawn farming) by using structured interview schedule. After analyzing the data, per hectare gross return, net return, and gross margin of shrimp farming were found to be Tk. 525000.00, Tk. 83027.00 and Tk. 182503.00 respectively and prawn farming, Tk. 616250.00, Tk. 238784.00 and Tk. 324555.00 respectively. Total costs of shrimp and prawn production were calculated at Tk. 441973.00 and Tk. 377466.00 per hectare. Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR) was found to be 1.19 for shrimp farming and 1.63 for prawn farming. Thus, it was found that prawn farming was comparatively profitable in the study area. Production function analysis suggested that, among the variables included in the model, human labor, fingerling, and lime had a positive and significant effect on the gross production of shrimp farming, except feed and fertilizer had insignificant effect on the gross production of shrimp farming. In the case of prawn production, most of the variables had a positive and significant effect on the gross production of prawn production, except lime had a negative and insignificant effect and fingerling had an insignificant effect on the gross production of prawn farming. This study also identified some of the problems and barriers associated with shrimp and prawn farming. Problems faced by the respondents were ranked on the basis of corresponding percentages. The problems should be removed comprehensively through an integrated program for the overall development of shrimp (bagda) and prawn (galda) farming.