Impact of COVID-19 on Smallholder Aquaculture Farmers and Their Response Strategies: Empirical Evidence from Bangladesh

G. M. Monirul Alam, Md Nazirul Islam Sarker (), Md Abdus Samad Kamal, Most Nilufa Khatun and Humnath Bhandari
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G. M. Monirul Alam: Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University (BSMRAU), Gazipur 1706, Bangladesh
Md Nazirul Islam Sarker: School of Social Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, USM, Pinang 11800, Malaysia
Md Abdus Samad Kamal: Division of Mechanical Science and Technology, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Gunma University, Kiryu 376-8515, Japan
Most Nilufa Khatun: Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University (BSMRAU), Gazipur 1706, Bangladesh
Humnath Bhandari: International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Dhaka 1213, Bangladesh

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 3, 1-13

Abstract: Bangladesh’s aquaculture sector has contributed progressively to the nation’s economy over the years, but the COVID-19 pandemic has impeded fish farmers’ access to markets, reduced their production and sales capacity, resulted in lower income, and increased food security vulnerability. This study assesses how COVID-19 affects smallholder fish farmers and their response strategies by employing data collected from 250 fish farmers and traders from intensive fish-growing areas of Bangladesh. The results reveal that most farmers experienced difficulty obtaining inputs, and the price of those inputs skyrocketed during the COVID-19 period, resulting in several months of decreased production and operations. As a result of COVID-19, farm gate prices for silver carp, ruhu, common carp, grass carp, and tilapia fish dropped by 25%, 23%, 23%, 22%, 23%, and 40%, respectively. On the other hand, fish feed prices were found to increase significantly. Reduced income from fish farming and other sources has triggered a significant drop in capital for farming operations and production capacity improvement, leading to food insecurity. The most common coping strategies include reduced buying from the market (vegetables, fruits, meat, milk, etc.), relying on less expensive or less preferred food, purchasing food on credit, and selling assets. Notably, due to COVID-19, a new mode of marketing has evolved as an adaptation strategy in the fish marketing system, such as the use of the mobile phone (18%) and Facebook/internet to sell fish directly to the customer (16%). The sector requires short-term financial assistance to assist fish actors with production and marketing challenges.

Keywords: agribusiness; agri-food system; fisher community; food value chain; food system; sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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