Does a “Blue Revolution” help the poor? Evidence from Bangladesh

Abstract

The rapid growth in aquaculture production, globally and in Bangladesh is well documented. Over 2000-2010, per capita production of aquaculture grew 76%, while the consumer price of fish declined 45%. Previous studies have suggested pro-poor effects of aquaculture based on fish production and consumption patterns. This study attempts to quantify the contribution of aquaculture to income growth and poverty reduction in Bangladesh, using household survey data and a microsimulation approach based on an expanded version of Deaton's concept of net benefit ratio. We estimate that aquaculture's contribution to income growth between 2000 and 2010 was 2.1%, including both price and quantity effects. This income growth was translated into poverty reduction of 1.7 percentage points. Although these estimates seem small, they represent almost 10% of the overall poverty reduction in Bangladesh during the first decade of the 21st century. Put differently, of the 18 million Bengalis who escaped poverty during 2000-2010, about 1.8 million of them managed to do so because of the rapid growth in aquaculture, which contributed to rural income while making fish more accessible to consumers. JEL classifications: Q21, Q22, C15, I3

Multi-dimensional well-being associated with economic dependence on ecosystem services in deltaic social-ecological systems of Bangladesh

“…Here, we highlight the negative implications of over-exploitation of ecosystem services for subjective wellbeing. While development of the aquaculture sector has been found to modestly increase the material well-being of those in the lowest wealth quintile, and as such can be considered propoor (Rashid et al 2019), these benefits are difficult to ascribe to those directly affected by the negative environmental and social impacts of the shrimp aquaculture. Our results show that the residents of the area do not consider themselves to be living well, demonstrating a trade-off between national development strategies represented by shrimp export and the life satisfaction of those most affected.…”

“…The probability of being dissatisfied is lower in all other socialecological systems compared with the saltwater shrimp social-ecological system, with the probability of dissatisfaction lowest in the riverine social-ecological system. Dissatisfaction was most likely in the most environmentally degraded, but economically important, social-ecological system; saltwater shrimp represented 81% of the total export value in Bangladesh in 2012/2013 (Rashid et al 2019).…”

PROTOCOL: Aquaculture for improving productivity, income, nutrition and women's empowerment in low‐ and middle‐income countries: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…Conceptually, aquaculture interventions that aim to increase production and productivity of aquaculture activities, have both direct and indirect benefits on income, livelihood and poverty. The linkages and pathways are similar to the ones developed in agriculture economics and are discussed extensively for the aquaculture sector (see Ahmed & Lorica, 2002;Rashid et al, 2019;Toufique & Belton, 2014). For example, Toufique and Belton (2014) define the following four linkages: direct consumption links (increased consumption from own production), indirect consumption links (increased availability and accessibility of fish), direct income links (increased income for aquaculture producers), and indirect income links (employment in the fish value chain and consumption linkages).…”

A blue revolution in sub-Saharan Africa? Evidence from Ghana’s tilapia value chain

“…Several studies have credited the expansion of aquaculture with more balanced diets and better nutrition (Golden et al 2017;Toufique and Belton 2014;Troell et al 2014). Moreover, certain types of aquaculture industries have improved the livelihoods of economically disadvantaged people via their development benefits (Dey et al 2013;Little et al 2016;Golden et al 2017;Rashid, Minot and Lemma 2016).…”

“…The livestock revolution (mainly around chicken, pork, and beef) has been documented by Delgado et al (1999). The term blue revolution has been used more recently by Hishamunda et al (2009), Ponte et al (2014) and Rashid, Minot, and Lemma (2016). 2 Breeding programs in tilapia, carp and prawns In Asia have resulted in genetic gains or improved productivity ranging from 8 to 12 percent per generation (Nguyen 2016).…”