Socioeconomic study of traditional fish farmers and trained farmers in the Indian Sundarbans ecosystem

The Sundarbans, major marshy land, and brackish water ecosystem of the West Bengal were inhabited by many species of fishes which were the main dependants of the people living there. The present investigation was conducted using a questionnaire survey, participatory rural appraisal, key informant interviews, and focus group discussion and to assess the present state of production of major cultivable species of Sundarbans like mullet, shrimp, tilapia, mud-crabs, giant prawn and Asian seabass. A socioeconomic and technical survey of 45 trained and 45 traditional practitioners of aquaculture were conducted from May 2017 – April 2018. This study and appraisal intended to compare the socioeconomic relationship between traditional fish farmers and trained aquaculturists in Indian Sundarbans. The modern farmers usually practice the farming systems like Jayantirohu cultivation, white shrimp cultivation, genetically improved farmed tilapia, crabs fattening and crab culture; periphyton based giant prawn cultivation and Asian seabass culture with forage feeding with bait fishes. The trained farmers were enriched with much knowledge and information gained from various training, which the traditional farmers were lacking. It was found average benefit-cost ratio for traditional farming and modern farming system of 1:1.89 for traditional fish farmers and 1:3.13 for trained farmers. It was helping the modern practitioners to earn more profit to suffice their family needs as well as they were now accomplishing more safety, security measures for their family, investing more in their aquaculture practices. The yield of fish culture was affected by pond conditions, family labor engagement, and resource endowment of the fisher family. Linkage with formal financial institutions, subsidized input support from the fishery department, and investment in human resource development of farmers might be some point of intervention to boost fish culture in the coastal zone of West Bengal, India.