Bangladesh has achieved a modest rate of economic growth during the last several years, namely for the period 1985–1991 the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in real terms grew by 20% with an annual rate of 3.1%. The highest rate of growth was achieved in the electricity, natural resources sector (16.8% annually) followed by the public services (5.8%) and construction sector (5.2%); the lowest rate of growth was in the largest sector, agriculture (1.7%). The industrial sector, currently employing 14% of the formal workforce, grew 3.4% annually between 1985 and 1991.
The role of fisheries sector is usually summarized in terms of its contribution to the Gross National Product (3%), share of export earnings (11%) and employment (5%). The fishery sector is relatively small in these terms but important because:
The Fourth Five-Year Plan was launched in 1990 with the following objectives:
Human resource development is considered as a key element to achieve the above objectives. It is defined as the improvement in people's ability to identify their own problems, prepare and implement their own plans in areas which concern them most. In addition, the Plan emphasizes the promotion of decentralized participatory approaches. The major strategies highlighted in the Plan are as follows:
Poverty alleviation is the overall objective of rural development of Bangladesh. The plan which was conceived within the framework of a Twenty Year Perspective Plan (1990–2010) gives importance to strategies and sectoral activities which aim to improve the living conditions of the rural people. The Plan recognizes the potential of utilizing the inherent dynamism of the poor and disadvantaged including fish farmers and fishermen and their efficiency in the utilization of capital and labour.
The Plan also underscores the bias of the country service delivery system in the country against the poor and the disadvantaged, lack of motivation among those who operate the system and contact the rural people. The lack of the organizational strength among the rural poor is detrimental to rural development. It is also recognized that projects designed primarily to benefit the rural poor have failed to create the desired impact as they did not provide adequate involvement of local communities.
Decentralized participatory planning and resource mobilization within the village are considered as the initiators of the development activities; union as the basic unit for preparation of village plan and the thana (formerly called Upazila) as the coordinating unit for such plans.
Community participation through non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is emphasized. The plan appreciates the role played in the past by the NGOs in the overall socioeconomic and rural development of the country and proposes to utilize NGOs' services in a more cost-effective and coordinated way.
The Plan particularly stresses the need to take “extra care to ensure that economic development does not lead to increased deterioration of the ecology and environment”. At the project formulation level, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has already been made an integral part of major development projects.
Integration of sector-based planning with socio-economic groupbased planning (the entire population of Bangladesh is divided into ten socio-economic groups) is stressed. In this way, the poor and the disadvantaged, who remain scattered in the economy, could be integrated into the mainstream of the national economy. Emphasis is placed on the integration of decentralized participatory micro-economic with macro-economic planning. Thana administration systems have already been established as the base for decentralized participatory planning.
To uplift the status of women and to increase their integration into the mainstream of development planning are stressed. In this context, women are encouraged to get themselves organized in functional groups in order to acquire access to credit programmes, human resource development, training and income-generating activities. Several successful cases have been reported in the experiments carried out by Grameen Bank, Swanirvar Credit Programme, BRDB and NGOs.
Economic structural adjustment concerned with poverty alleviation aims at creating effective demand through capital investment, provision of incentives to the private sector to promote investments in rural areas including those for production-oriented agriculture, incentives for export promotion and integration of the private sector with banking systems and government initiatives.
The Plan stresses the need for establishing inter-sectoral linkages among public sector investment programmes so that sectoral balances may be maintained. With regard to the private sector investment programmes, it emphasizes the importance of retaining the resources in rural areas without transferring them to the urban areas.
The general socioeconomic situations in rural areas can be summarized as follows.
Nearly 70% of producers operate at or below the subsistence level of production; marketable surplus after meeting family and household consumption needs is low or non-existent; many subsistence producers are actually net food buyers because their output is low; per capita income of about US$ 200/year results in low purchasing power and therefore low effective demand for products, goods and services; income inequalities are not only wide but widespread; more than 40% of the population, especially in the rural areas, consumes calories at or below the minimum nutritional requirements; land, in particular arable land is scarce; and much of its vast aquatic resources are under utilized.
There exists the urgent need for reducing income inequalities and increasing the purchasing power of the people. With greater effective demand of the population, economic development programme will a steady pace of progress. The lack of purchasing power and effective demand have discouraged investment and held back the greater utilization of the country's resources and employment of its labour force. Productive capacity of resources can be, to a large extent, built up and utilised through investment.
Although the government recognizes the importance to pursue the above policy directions, the current development plans do not adequately address this aspect. For example, rural industrialization could be more emphasized in the national strategy to create employment opportunities and utilize resources in rural areas in order to generate effective demand and thus increase purchasing power in rural communities.
The fishery sector in Bangladesh is characterized by a labour force which is excessive in relation to the limited fishery resources potential. As population growth is projected high, the prospects for increasing the fishermen's income through higher labour productivity is gloomy. Fish production for fishermen has been decreasing and it often does not meet even minimum requirements.
Problems which currently obstruct sustainable development in fisheries are rooted in the country's population size. A large and rapidly growing population increases the pressure on the limited resources and slows any rise in living standards. Poverty has been a persistent problem in fishing communities because there has been free and open access to the fisheries and fishing is a last resort occupation for many participants who either as crew on bigger boats, or who own small boats traditional gears. Excessive fishing has caused lower catches per vessel, which in turn has affected the income of fishermen who although skilled, use unsophisticated fishing techniques. These factors generally inhibit sustained development of artisanal fisheries and rural fish farmers.
Because of the above problem, the Government has been implementing since 1987 the New Fisheries Management Policy (NFMP) with a view to adopting a more rational approach to the management and development of inland fisheries. Many of its gains have, however, largely bypassed the resource-poor small and marginal fishermen/farmers who represent the majority among the fishing community.
Socioeconomic constraints arise from over population of the coastal zone, low incomes, low social, educational and economic status of the fishermen, lack of alternative employment opportunities, and low environmental awareness. Thus, the socioeconomic factors affecting land and coastal resource use are complex and exert increasing pressures on the resources. The erosion both of the islands and the mainlands is reflected in the migratory nature and loss of land by the inhabitants of the area. A survey (1985) revealed that all households studied in the coastal areas shifted place of residence at least once. The accretion of land from the sea means not only a loss of fishing grounds but also loss of livelihood for thousands of fishermen. The inhabitants of the coastal fishing areas, most of whom are below poverty line are struggling to survive. For them health, nutrition, sanitation, water supply, soil fertility, cooking fuel, animal fee and house building materials are day to day problems.
