Labor Demand for Rice-Prawn Gher Farming in Bangladesh : A Case Study of Khulna District

摘要

This paper aims to examine labor demand for rice-prawn gher farming as well as modern variety (MV) boro and local aman paddy/rice production in Southwest Bangladesh. The research was conducted in two contrasting villages-Bilpabla village for rice-prawn gher farming and Kuloti village for MV boro and local aman paddy under Dumuria Thana in Khulna District. The primary data was collected through a cross sectional farm survey during November and December in 2003. A total of 40 rice -prawn gher farmers from Bilpabla village and 10 paddy / rice farmers from Kuloti village were randomly selected. Secondary data were also used in this study. The findings of the study indicate that rice-prawn gher farming has increased labor demand compared to MV boro and local aman paddy/rice production. The permanent hired labor was found to have highly significant impact on family supplied male and female labor in rice-prawn gher farming. The gher farming system was found to have created highly seasonal demand for laborduring the paddy production and this high demand for labor was found to have increased agricultural wage compared to the wage rate of other activities of gher farming system. However, the wage rate of hired labor in MV boro and local aman paddy production is similar to the wage rate of boro paddy production in gher farming system.