COVID-19 impacts on the Bangladesh shrimp industry: A sequential survey-based case study from southwestern Bangladesh

Abstract

Shrimp farming is fundamental to the national economy of Bangladesh, particularly through earning foreign currency. The nationwide lockdown and international cargo restriction jeopardized the sector and breaking its marketing chain. Assessing the degree of farming socio-economic peril from COVID-19 and suggesting early coping strategies and long-term mitigation measures are pressing to build resilience for this food production sector. To collect survey data, two key-informant face-to-face surveys with 51 shrimp farmers and 62 consumers in southwest Bangladesh were accomplished. As national lockdowns restricted access to export markets and movements within the country, farm incomes decreased against rising production costs. To compensate, farmers reduced their workforce (29.4%), but even with the sale of co-cultured finfish still suffered from large drops in revenue (42.8% average profit reduction). Furthermore, we present evidence that shrimp farmers should consider diversification of aquaculture product type as co-culture of additional shrimp species was a poor mitigation strategy against large market price fluctuations. Product price reductions were passed on to the consumer, who enjoyed falling product prices including more expensive shrimp products, but the markup for nearly all aquaculture products increased. The current jeopardy and consequences of shrimp farming future are discussed, including coping strategies to help policymakers in building resilience against future uncertainties.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12562-022-01630-0.

Keywords: Bangladesh; COVID-19; Farm practices; Shrimp industry; Sustainability.

Fig. 1

COVID-19 timeline of Bangladesh showing monthly confirmed cases and death cases recorded from March, 2020 to December, 2021. Colored triangular shapes inside the confirmed case bar represent shrimp culture stage/phases of Bangladesh

Fig. 2

Map showing the location of shrimp farms that participated in the survey

Fig. 3

Effect of COVID-19 on the farm gate prices of shrimp and prawn produce. Horizonal lines indicate the difference, the dashed vertical lines are the mean farm gate price pre-COVID-19 (dotted) and post-COVID-19 mean farm gate price (dashed); and the shaded areas are the 95% confidence levels. Significance of differences in farm gate prices (pre-COVID-19 versus post-COVID-19) using paired Student’s t test are shown (***p < 0.001; **p < 0.01; *p < 0.05)

Fig. 4

Dumbbell plots showing the effect of COVID-19 on farm worker wages. In these plots, the horizonal lines represent farms that have decreased wages and a dashed horizontal line represents those that have increased wages. A single hollow square with a dot represents a farm that had staff pre-COVID-19 but reduced numbers to zero post-COVID-19. NS not significant

Fig. 5

Dumbbell plots showing farm total unit labor costs before and after COVID-19. In these plots, the horizonal lines represent farms that have decreased the total wage bill. A hollow circle with a dot represents a farm that reduced staff numbers to zero post-COVID-19 and therefore had a 100% drop in unit labor costs