'Ecologically suicidal, economically unjust'

They said saline water for shrimp cultivation has not only destroyed the fertility of agricultural land but also damaged the bio-diversity and shrunk traditional poultry breeding.

The two-day workshop on 'Terrorism-based trade, Democracy and Rights of the Poor' was organised by Nijera Kori, an NGO for rural development, at the WVA auditorium in the city.

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Prof. Abul Barkat of Dhaka University presented a paper on 'Commercial shrimp culture, imperiled ecology and rights of the poor' at the opening session.

In the paper, he explored how salinity and terror inflicted by owners of the gher (enclosed shrimp culture ground) in the south-west region, have deprived the marginal people of their livelihood by displacing them from their ancestral homesteads.

"Due to various malpractice in commercial shrimp culture, the land-less people have also lost their right to Khas land," said Prof Barkat.

Two crore people of 15 districts in the country's coastal area have become the victims of this unjust economy, he added.

Prof Barkat said shrimp culture occupied 20,000 hectares of land in 1979-80 while a total of 410,000 hectares of land came under this business in 1996-97.

He said a shrimp gher owner earns a net profit of Tk 200, 000 per acre of land whereas a marginal farmer, who owns the land, gets Tk 4 to 6 thousand.

Rahela Begum, who came from Khulna to take part in the workshop, said, "The crop field has lost fertility because of shrimp culture which thrives on labour exploitation, muscle power and terrorism."

"Women workers at the shrimp processing plants are subjected to serious health hazards and inhuman working conditions," said Dr. Sadeka Halim of Dhaka University.

"As contractual labourers, these women often do not get wages month after month but they cannot raise their voices as the shrimp traders are highly influential," she said.

Prof. ABM Faruk of Dhaka University said 32 percent of the country's people depend on medicinal plants for treatment but salinity in the shrimp breeding grounds has wiped out these plants in Khulna, Bagerhat and Satkhira regions.

Prof. Ahmed Kamal of Dhaka University presided over the session attended by 65 participants including 42 land-less people, seven journalists and five lawyers.