The study assessed the economic, environmental and sustainability issues of organic shrimp farming in Bangladesh. Following stratified random sampling technique, 60 farmers were interviewed from several villages of Assasuni upazila under Satkhira district. The study revealed that productivity of organic shrimp per hectare was 383 pound and benefit cost ratio was 1.91 which meant that organic shrimp farming was highly profitable. Educational level of household head, gher size and knowledge on organic shrimp production had positive and significant influence in adopting organic shrimp production by the farmers. Cause-effect-mitigation analysis pointed out that organic shrimp farming could mitigate the adverse effects on environment caused by traditional shrimp farming. Appropriate climate and environment for organic shrimp culture was found as major strength and comparative profitability than traditional shrimp production was found as major opportunity of organic shrimp production. The study confirmed sustainability of organic shrimp production from the standpoint of consuming energy, protecting environment, economic feasibility and social/political equity. The study recommends that farmers should be trained to follow the work instructions and principles of organic shrimp production and the application of good management practices (GMPs) should be ensured for reducing the disease outbreak risk.

Introduction

Shrimp plays an important role in the international trade as a part of fisheries commodity. Bangladesh is ranked as 5th largest aquaculture producing country in the world after China, India, Vietnam and Indonesia with a fish production of 41.34 lakh metric tonnes in 2015–۱۶ (Uddin et al., 2019a, 2019b; BBS, 2017). Its coastal area in the southwest has a unique brackish water ecosystem. This region is recognized worldwide as one of the most suitable shrimp farming areas for resource abundance and favorable agro-climatic circumstances (Ahmed et al., 2008). Satkhira, Khulna and Bagerhat districts are the key areas for producing shrimp in the southwestern Bangladesh, which contribute 71.4% to the national total production (BBS, 2017). Due to the availability of wild shrimp fry, low lying agricultural land, warm climate and the high profit, more farmers started using their lands extensively for shrimp farming. In the last decades, the demand for shrimp from both local and overseas markets has been increasing and many countries, especially in the global north, depend on imports of fish and seafood (Morf, 2014). Shrimp aquaculture has turned out to be one of the most significant sectors of Bangladesh’s economy. According to BFFEA (2017) and WITS (2017), frozen seafood contributes 1.7% (US$ 535.8 million) of the total export earnings (US$ 31714.2 million) from Bangladesh in 2015–۱۶٫ Every year, Bangladesh ships more than 0.8 lakh tons of shrimp from producing on 2.1 lakh hectares land in the southwestern saline area.