Carp Fattening and Socio-economic Status of Farmers of Dinajpur District, Bangladesh: An Expedient Overview

A Survey work was designed to explore the present status of carp fattening and socio-economic standing of the fish farmers of three upazillas of Dinajpur district such as Dinajpur Sadar, Parbatipur, and Birampur, and was continued until June 2021 from July 2020. Several methodological tools, including participatory rural appraisal (PRA) and primarily a questionnaire survey were used to collect data from 59 fish farmers. The majority of the farmers were between the ages of 41–50, where 45% of them had four to five family members, representing 71.19% nuclear and 28.81% joint families. Large number of the farmers (28.81%) could only sign their names. Approximately 81.35% were Muslims and 18.65% belonged to the Hindus where near about half of the farmers’ (47.46%) annual income were in between BDT 1,00,001-2,0,000. Paka sanitary was utilized by 49.15% respondents. All the farmers drank from tube wells and had access to electricity. The typical pond size was 0.31-40 ha (27.12%), with an average depth of 1.7 m. Farmers owned 59.33% of the ponds, on the other hand, 40.67% were leased ponds and 79.66% had the provision of groundwater for cultivation; however, 50.84% exchanged water whenever required. About 57.63% prepared the ponds and applied 123.5 kg/ha of salt, 12.35-44.5 kg/ha of TSP, and 12.35-75.25 kg/ha of urea. To boost carp growth, 83.08% employed availed growth promoters. Indian major carp and exotic carp were considered for this purpose and have had only fish lice as a constraint throughout the nine to ten months of cultivation period. Commercial feeds were utilized by 40.68% farmers and 81.35% maintained a feeding frequency of two times a day. Majority of them (72.89%) sold live fishes. Lack of scientific knowledge, shortage of high-quality seeds and feeds, lack of funds, and lack of marketing facilities were found to be the main obstructions.