Environmental degradation and loss of traditional agriculture as two causes of conflicts in shrimp farming in the southwestern coastal Bangladesh: Present status and probable solutions

• An interview survey was conducted among stakeholders in the shrimp value chain in the south-western coast of Bangladesh.
• We tested two hypotheses: “environmental degradation” or “loss of traditional agriculture” as main causes of a conflict.
• Attitude conflict-generating factors were more prominent where brackish water shrimp farming were dominant.
• Landless people and marginal farmers were the two pioneer groups most intensively involved in conflicts.
• Loss of traditional agriculture and environmental degradation were main causes of conflict over shrimp farming.

An interview survey was conducted among some of the stakeholders in the shrimp value chain on the south-western coast of Bangladesh. The study was conducted in four subdistricts. Eight negative influences were treated as conflict generating factors. The following two hypotheses were tested: ‘environmental degradation is the main cause of the conflict’ and ‘loss of traditional agriculture is another main cause of the conflict’. Attitudes towards seven of the eight conflict generating factors varied significantly among the four sub-districts. Differences between sub-districts and differences in land use histories were the significant contributors to the explanation of the variation in the attitudes towards the conflicts. In our study, we found a trend that attitude conflict-generating factors were more prominent where brackish water intrusion and brackish water shrimp farming were dominant. Landless people and marginal farmers were the two pioneer groups most intensively involved in these conflicts. Two of the most popular suggestions towards sustainable farming and conflict resolution were to ‘maintain proper outlet and inlet systems’ and to ‘maintain alternate farming of shrimp and rice’.