Faltering fisheries and ascendant aquaculture: Implications for food and nutrition security in Bangladesh

Bangladesh has made considerable progress against human development indicators in recent years, but malnutrition resulting from poor dietary diversity and low micronutrient intakes remains entrenched. Fish is central to the Bangladeshi diet and small fish species are an important micronutrient source. Although fish consumption per capita has increased in recent years as a result of rapid expansion of aquaculture, it is likely that consumption of fish from capture fisheries (including small indigenous species particularly rich in micronutrients), has declined. This paper evaluates data on fish consumption collected in Bangladesh by the International Food Policy Research Institute in 1996/7 and 2006/7 to assess changing patterns of fish consumption and their implications for food and nutrition security. This analysis indicates that growth of aquaculture has been positive, mitigating a sharp reduction in the quantity of fish consumed from capture fisheries and smoothing out seasonal variability in consumption. However, increased availability of fish from aquaculture may not have fully compensated for the loss of fish from capture fisheries in terms of dietary diversity, micronutrient intakes and food and nutrition security, particularly for the poorest consumers. A range of approaches are recommended to sustain and enhance the contributions capture fisheries and aquaculture make to food and nutrition security in Bangladesh     

Rethinking aquaculture for resource-poor farmers: perspectives from Bangladesh

Expectations about the unfulfilled potential of aquaculture as a source of animal protein for the poor of Bangladesh are currently running high. Evidence suggests that social and economic constraints to intensification are as yet poorly understood and may constitute an important barrier to improving resource utilisation. Both public sector agencies and NGOs are currently engaged in a range of aquaculture initiatives. This paper critically surveys a selection of ongoing aquaculture research and extension programmes. It is suggested that current approaches are unlikely to benefit those with low incomes in Bangladesh, since there are problems with both the conceptualisation of the `problem of aquaculture' and the types of institutional arrangements being deployed to tackle it. The paper ends with several recommendations about future priorities in terms of the nature and style of aquaculture research.     

Integrated Value Chain Development: Evidence from Bangladesh

Agricultural productivity and farmer welfare in developing countries is constrained by a multitude of market imperfections. Value chain development (VCD) is receiving much attention as a market-based policy instrument that can potentially address multiple of these constraints simultaneously. This paper provides a conceptualization of VCD and discusses how VCD can be used as a policy instrument. As an illustration, the paper describes the VCD project “SAFAL,” which uses an integrated approach to directly intervene in aquaculture, horticulture, and dairy value chains in South-West Bangladesh. The strategy is to first identify a demand downstream in the value chain and then to identify and reduce the constraints experienced by value chain actors upstream to meet this demand. Using a matched difference-in-difference methodology, this paper estimates farm household participation in SAFAL increases farm income and shortens the hungry season.     

Sustaining healthy diets: The role of capture fisheries and aquaculture for improving nutrition in the post-2015 era

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda makes achieving food security and ending malnutrition a global priority. Within this framework, the importance of fisheries in local and global food systems and its contribution to nutrition and health, particularly for the poor are overlooked and undervalued. This paper reviews current fish production and consumption from capture fisheries and aquaculture, highlights opportunities for enhancing healthy diets and outlines key multi-sectoral policy solutions. Mirroring the call for a diversification of agricultural research and investment beyond a few staple grains, it is anticipated that productivity gains for a few farmed aquatic species will not suffice. Capture fisheries and aquaculture have a complementary role to play in increasing fish availability and access, and must be promoted in ways that support measurable nutrition and health gains. This paper argues that the lack of a nutrition-sensitive policy focus on capture fisheries and aquaculture represents an untapped opportunity that must be realised for ensuring sustainable healthy diets for all.     

Combined price support and fertilizer subsidy policies for food self-sufficiency: A case study of rice in Bangladesh

Output price support and input subsidies, particularly fertilizer subsidies, are used in many developing countries as short-term policies for stimulating food production. This paper presents a method of evaluating combined price support and fertilizer subsidy policies, allowing for differences in emphasis on each. Bangladesh is taken as a case study. The paper also indicates the likely distributional consequences of the various combined policies and formulates policy suggestions based on the results. The guiding hypothesis for the study is that some combination of price support and fertilizer subsidies is preferable to a price support or fertilizer subsidy monopolicy in achieving rice self sufficiency in Bangladesh.     

Explaining geospatial variation in mobile phone ownership among rural women of Bangladesh: A multi-level and multidimensional approach

Despite significant progress in Information and communication technologies (ICTs), rural dwellers of Bangladesh are still less fortunate when it comes to availing the improved ICT facilities compared to their urban counterparts, and this digital divide is more evident in the case of women. Mobile phone ownership (MPO) can play a key role in bridging this digital divide and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of “End poverty in all its forms everywhere”, “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”, and “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages”. Administrative district-level infrastructural and societal readiness to women's MPO in rural settings of Bangladesh may also influence the geospatial variation in their MPO status, which is still unexplained. In the context of rural Bangladesh, household heads substantially exert influence over women's decision-making process. However, the role of household heads' age and education on women's MPO is mostly unexplored. As in developing countries, women's MPO does not ensure its usage, investigating the possibilities of women's MPO on its usage has immense importance. Therefore, this study aims to revisit the correlates of rural women's MPO in Bangladesh and explain the administrative district-level geospatial variation in their MPO by controlling the effect of individual and household-level sociodemographic correlates of MPO. Further, this study attempts to investigate the possibilities of MPO on the extent of its usage. This study used the latest nationally representative cross-sectional data from Bangladesh Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2019. This study reveals that the district-level readiness was a potential source of geospatial variation in the prevalence of rural women's MPO in Bangladesh. The lowest level of readiness was noticed in north-western Bangladesh. Comparatively elderly women with better education and media exposure had a considerably higher chance of MPO. Elderly household heads, especially male and less educated heads, hindered the MPO of women. This study identified MPO as a key determinant of its extent of usage. Moreover, to increase the MPO by a faster pace, strategies should target less empowered women, particularly those who lived in districts of lower readiness.     

Improved use of fisheries resources : Alleviating malnutrition in Southern Africa

The author reviews the potential for improved use of fisheries resources in nine southern African countries. These countries have serious problems of malnutrition and the author concludes that fisheries resources could make a substantially greater contribution to nutrition. Supply, processing and distribution of fisheries products are reviewed, and the benefits of improved kapenta and aquaculture production are discussed.     

Fish and nutrition in India

A 1966 survey of possibilities for increasing food production to meet India's minimum nutritional requirements concluded that a national programme could be formulated for making better use of India's vast potential in fisheries. This article gives an account of the current production and disposal of fisheries products in India. The three major phases of fisheries operations are distinguished, and actions are proposed that could be taken in each phase to help alleviate malnutrition in India. Finally the article discusses how such actions could be undertaken within a comprehensive national programme designed to increase the contribution of fisheries to the alleviation of India's malnutrition problem.     

我国战略性新兴产业的所有制结构研究

利用《中国高技术产业统计年鉴》中的高技术产业数据与同花顺iFinD数据库的A股上市公司数据对我国战略性新兴产业及其细分行业的所有制结构进行了分析。结果显示,所有制结构在不同战略性新兴产业存在的差异．不同所有制结构企业的营业收入与利润增长也有很大不同,民营企业的盈利水平通常要高于国有企业。     

Effects of broadband availability on total factor productivity in service sector firms: Evidence from Ireland

While broadband is widely believed to augment productivity, there is little firm-level evidence of a generalised causal effect. In this paper we examine whether the introduction of digital subscriber line (DSL) broadband services increased firms' productivity in nine sub-sectors within the services and distribution sector in Ireland from 2006 to 2012. Firm-level panel data on firms' characteristics are linked to spatial information on the rollout of DSL. While we do not find significant productivity effects in the services sectors taken together, we do find positive and significant effects on firm's total factor productivity in Information & Communication and Administrative & Support Services.     

Opportunity cost of spectrum for mobile communications: Evaluation of spectrum prices in Bangladesh

The purpose of this study is to focus attention on the choice of the reserve price made by the telecom regulator to explain the under-performance of spectrum auctions in Bangladesh. The overestimation of the reserve prices for several auctions in Bangladesh including the auction of the 3G – 2100 MHz band in 2013, the 2G - 1800 MHz band in 2015, and the 4G – 1800 and 2100 MHz bands in 2018 is established by comparing the reserve prices to the economic value of spectrum, determined by using the engineering valuation and production function approaches. Possible reasons for the inflation of the reserve price are discussed.     

From pond to plate: Towards a twin-driven commodity chain in Bangladesh shrimp aquaculture

Globalization of the agro-food system has led developing nations to orient their production to meet global markets. Consequently, local agricultural systems are increasingly linked to global commodity networks, and generate complex intersections and sometimes tensions. Cultured shrimp in Bangladesh is such a global commodity that connects the local producers with the global consumers starting from pond to plate via a network of diverse actors in a complex manner. Field research in Bangladesh shows that shrimp aquaculture in Bangladesh is moving towards a twin-driven commodity chain in which lead firms govern supply network, while the Shrimp Seal of Quality Organization (SSOQ), a recently emerged third-party certifier, as well as other environmental NGOs define regulatory aspects of the industry. While governance in twin-driven commodity chain offers opportunities for a sustainable aquaculture, it also poses many questions which have significant policy implications for different stakeholders involved in the chain.     

Fish as the “bank in the water” – Evidence from chronic-poor communities in Congo

Small-scale fisheries in developing countries are often perceived as being a low-productivity and backward informal sector. As a result they are rarely considered in poverty reduction programmes and rural development planning. In this paper, we investigate the dual role of fish as a food and cash crop through data collected in river fisheries in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Fishing in this very remote rural region of DRC is operated both by men and women, as part of a household multiple activity livelihood strategy. The data shows that poor households rely heavily on fishing for their supply of protein-rich food, in particular through women’s subsistence catches. Fishing also appears to be the main source of cash-income for the majority of households, including local farmers. Based on these findings and a review of the literature, the paper argues that small-scale fisheries can play a fundamental role in local economies, especially in remote rural areas where they strengthen significantly the livelihoods of people through their role in both food security and cash-income generation.     

Assessing the contribution of artisanal fisheries to food security: A bio-economic modeling approach

Artisanal fisheries are an important food source in many developing regions. Quantitative bio-economic models are needed that comprehensively assess artisanal fisheries’ contribution to food security. Our model combines standard resource economics theory with the literature on food systems. It explains impacts of environmental variations and market development on output, prices and ultimately food security. The application to the Senegalese purse-seine fishery reveals that total sector rents account for 2% of per capita yearly food expenditures for the coastal inhabitants. We examine the relative importance of main drivers and the vulnerability of different regions. Market development plays a crucial role: The resource is of far greater relevance for remote regions.     

Economic impact analysis of inland waterway disruption response

Navigable inland waterways connect inland ports with the global supply chain by providing a low-cost, reliable, and environmentally friendly freight transportation mode. In this article, we present the results from a simulation-based approach that estimates the potential economic impacts of inland waterway disruption response. Predicting economic impacts of inland waterway disruption response enables system stakeholders to increase their preparedness and potentially reduce economic losses. Our approach is implemented on an illustrative case study of the McClellan–Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System. The approach is generalizable to navigable inland waterways throughout the United States to support economic resilience of these systems.     

Food aid and food policy in Bangladesh

Bangladesh has now replaced India as the most publicized large scale recipient of food aid, importing 1.67 million tons of food grains, four fifths of which were on concessional terms, in 1977/78 (July to June). Some analysts, extrapolating from the poor performance of the agricultural sector up to the mid 1970s, also project that Bangladesh will be one of the largest importers of foodgrains in a decade's time merely in order to maintain current pitifully inadequate levels of nutrition.¹ Yet so far there has been no open debate or systematic attempt to analyse the impact of food aid on the Bangladesh economy, compared with the controversy and intensive analysis of food aid to India. This article² is intended to demonstrate the seriousness of this gap in the literature. It includes a review of provisional evidence on the role of food aid in the Bangladesh economy during the first quinquennium of ‘planned’ development, 1972/3–1977/8.     

工业机器人应用对制造业劳动生产率的影响研究——基于欧美13个国家数据的经验分析

本文从制造业细分行业的角度实证分析了工业机器人对劳动生产率的影响,并对西方国家整个制造业就业人数的减少做出解释。实证结果显示工业机器人的应用显著提升了制造业的劳动生产率,针对不同细分行业本身的特点,这种影响存在差异,工业机器人应用存在边际促进效应递减的趋势;从地域层面来说,工业机器人应用量大的国家,对制造业劳动生产率的提升作用更加明显,就整体而言,工业机器人的应用减少了制造业从业人员的比例,即制造业所能容纳的工人数量在逐渐减少。     

Trade subsidies,export bans and price stabilization: Lessons of Bangladesh–India rice trade in the 2000s

During the world food price crisis of 2007–08, rice importing countries suffered through a sharp increase in international rice prices and disruptions in supply as several rice exporters restricted trade to mitigate their domestic price increases. Perhaps no country was more affected by these disruptions than Bangladesh. Our analysis shows that prior to the 2007 crisis, when Bangladesh imported an average of nearly 1 million tons of rice per year from India, domestic wholesale prices of rice in Bangladesh were co-integrated with import parity prices of subsidized Below Poverty Line (BPL) rice. When in mid-2007, India sharply curtailed exports, rice prices surged in Bangladesh.Model simulations show that a relatively small increase in private consumer stocks equivalent to about 2 weeks of normal consumption could account for the large surge in domestic prices in Bangladesh and that an additional 300,000 tons (in addition to approximately 700,000 tons of net rice distribution that actually occurred) would have been sufficient to stabilize prices in the November 2007–April 2008 period. The Bangladesh analysis thus shows that in spite of the uncertainty in international markets, careful planning, timely interventions and openness to trade can substantially reduce requirements for public stockholding.     

Change and diversity in smallholder rice–fish systems: Recent evidence and policy lessons from Bangladesh

Efforts to unlock the genetic potential of both rice and fish, when combined with improvements in the management of rice–fish systems, can potentially increase agricultural productivity and food security in some of the poorest and most populous countries in Asia. In Bangladesh, estimates suggest that the country’s potential rice–fish production system encompasses 2–3 million hectares of land. But despite three decades of research on biophysical and technical aspects of rice–fish systems, this potential has not been fully realized due to insufficient attention given to the social, economic, and policy dimensions of rice–fish system improvement. This paper provides a characterization of the diverse and changing nature of rice–fish systems in Bangladesh to shed new light on the economic viability of different rice–fish systems and recommend policy and investment options to accelerate the development of appropriate rice–fish technologies. Data are drawn from a novel subdistrict-level survey of fishery officers, a household/enterprise survey, focus group discussions, and a meta-review of the literature on aquaculture in the country, all of which were conducted in 2010–2011. Findings indicate that concurrent rice–fish systems, alternating rice–fish systems, and collectively managed systems offer considerable potential for increasing productivity and farm incomes in Bangladesh. Findings also suggest that while innovation in these rice–fish systems is being driven by households and communities, there is need for more supportive government policies and investments to enable further innovation. Policymakers need to develop effective regulations to promote feed and fish quality and quantity, for example. More rigorous analysis of the intended and unintended impacts of these policies and investments is also necessary.     

Economics of wheat production in Bangladesh

This paper reports the results of a study undertaken to assess the economics of wheat production in Bangladesh. In financial terms, boro (winter) rice is the most profitable crop in irrigated zones, but wheat often generates the highest returns in non-irrigated zones and in areas that are unsuitable for boro rice production. When inputs and outputs are assigned economic prices, wheat production represents the most efficient use of domestic resources in most non-irrigated zones and in one irrigated zone. Should present trends continue and Bangladesh become self-sufficient in rice, wheat production would become even more attractive. In view of these findings, recent calls to scale back wheat promotion activities and curtail investment in wheat research must be questioned.