Fisheries and Livestock

The fisheries and Aquaculture sector plays an essential role in the national economy. It contributes 3.52% to the national GDP and more than one-fourth (26.37%) to the agricultural GDP (DoF, 2020). However, this potential sector faces various climate-induced risks and vulnerabilities. For combating this situation, it needs more applied researches and investigations to understand the sensitivity of native fish species to climate change and their variabilities and also the corresponding measures;

The National Adaptation Plan (NAP) provides an overall view of the links between climate, Fisheries and Aquaculture. The major adaptation priorities related to fisheries and aquaculture for managing climate change risks are:

  • Provide supplementary aeration using Oxy-A, Oxy-Rane, or Aerator, swimming during hypoxia conditions due to extreme heat or cold
  • Provide artificial oxygen supply through oxygen cylinder and stop feed supply during heavy rain and in oxygen-depleted condition;
  • Balance of pH by using or limited use of lime
  • Usages of disinfectant to curing Epizootic Ulcerative Syndrome
  • Raising dike of aquaculture farms (Pond or Gher) and use of fencing to protect overtopping of fish during floods or storm surges;
  • Aggregation of water hyacinth for reducing heat stress, increasing water depth in drought-prone areas, and maintaining desired habitat conditio,
  • Cultivation of small indigenous small specie,
  • Apply horra pulling to remove toxic gases during heat stress,
  • Use of geotextile sheet at the pond bottom for restricting see paging and percolation loss of pond water, mainly in the arid areas
  • Pre-matured or early harvesting of cultured fish before any extreme flood or storm surge based on early warning information
  • Adaptive culture fisheries in flood-affected ponds considering 6-month culture duration and relatively big size fry release (more than 6 inches) after the flood
  • Less feed supply during the afternoon and provide Vitamin C-rich feed during the morning
  • Inadequate availability of quality seeds to the farmers
  • Avoid fingerlings stocking during evening or afternoon
  • Reduce fish stock density and partial harvesting during drought conditions or low pond water depth,
  • Situation-based adjustment of stocking time and density,
Challange and Issues

Challanges in Fisheries and Livestock Sectors

All the successes, described above, could be short lived over a longer period of time. After achieving lower middle income country status, the challenge is not achieving food security but to sustain food security over medium and long term. Bangladesh aspires to become an upper middle income country and then on to become a developed country by 2041. This time frame unfortunately also coincides with onset of sea level rise potentially inundating parts of Bangladesh. Can Bangladesh sustain food security at that time? If not, will that threaten its aspiration to become developed country? The main challenges to achieving and sustaining food security over the longer term include:

  • Urbanization
  • Sea Level Rise
  • Loss of agriculture land
  • water availability
...

Expanding urbanization threatens food security

Bangladesh experienced faster urbanization than South Asia as a whole between 2000 and 2010. Over that period, the share of its population living in officially classified urban settlements increased by 1.69% per year. World Urbanization Prospects estimated that urban population will be 56% of total population of Bangladesh by 2050. Bangladesh's expanding urban populations presents it with a considerable affordable housing challenge. In the best case scenario in which urban population density remains constant, meeting this challenge will require expanding the amount of developable urban land by just over 7,000 km2 or almost 45% - between 2010 and 2050 (World Bank, 2015). This will provide extreme stress on lands available for productive economic uses and threaten achieving food security.

Climate change and natural hazards will likely continue to worsen

Bangladesh ranks first in the 2014 Climate Change Vulnerability Index and it will likely suffer more from climate change by 2025. than any other country (Maplecroft, 2014). Rainfall is expected to increase by 10% to 15% during the monsoon seasons by 2030 and 27% by 2075; rising sea level is expected to inundate 120,000 km2 by 2050; 14% more of the country may become extremely prone to floods by 2030; cyclones in the Bay of Bengal will occur more frequently due to increasing temperature, and the peak intensity of cyclones may increase by 5% to 10% (FPMU, 2013). Coastal salinity problems will likely worsen as changing rain patterns reduce the amount of dry season water supply from upstream river sources. Overall, crop production might be reduced by 30% by the end of the century, rice production could fall by 8%, and wheat production by 32% by 2050 (FPMU, 2013). Winter crop production would be seriously hampered due to a warmer and drier environment during non-monsoon seasons, while moisture stress might force farmers to reduce the area under irrigated rice cultivation.

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Loss of agricultural land

Bangladesh is losing agriculture land at a rate of 0.5% per year due to various factors including urban encroachment of agriculture land, road infrastructure, water logging, depletion of groundwater and soil fertility, erosion, and salinity (Hasan, 2013). In the last three decades about 170,000 ha of agriculture land has been degraded by increased salinity (FAO, 2012). Soil fertility degradation results from imbalanced fertilizer use ( overuse of subsidized nitrogen fertilizers), absence of micronutrient application, less use of manure for crops and more for fuel, and cropping intensification combined with the increase of mono culture rice without rotation. River bank erosion accounts for about 40% of land loss on about 1,200 km of riverbanks (primarily the Ganges, Jamuna, and Padma Rivers) that are seriously affected as topsoil is washed away and replaced by sand (Hasan, 2013). This problem is expected to intensify with increased climate change-induced sea level rise. This significant land loss when combined with population growth explains why the size of cultivated area per farm has decreased from 0.81 to 0.51 ha between 1984 and 2008 (FPMU, 2013)..

Uncertainty in water availability from upstream

As Bangladesh is located in the low-lying delta of the Ganges- the Brahmaputra- the Meghna basin, upstream infrastructural developments both in India and possibly in China are expected to have a notable impact on the dry season flow in the country. Of particular interest for Bangladesh are the Indian proposals to construct 16 barrages on the Ganges River and the plans to divert water from the Ganges and the Brahmaputra rivers towards the south of India. In addition, India is planning to construct the Tipaimukh dam in the northeastern part of the country. These will impact the water availability in Bangladesh as well as the ecological condition of the rivers. Fisheries and agriculture activities within Bangladesh are expected to be impacted by these developments.

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Preferred & Available Stress Tolerant Varities

The following stress tolerant crop varities are developed by different agencies of Bangladesh and can be used to combat climate change.

Flood Tolerant

BRRI dhan 51, BRRI dhan 52, BRRI dhan 79, (can withstand 18-21 days of submergence); BINA dhan 11, BINA dhan 12, (20-25 days submerged tolerant), BRRI dhan 91, (medium low and where water level below 1 meter).

Diseases Tolerant

BINA dhan-25,(moderate YSB resistant); BRRI dhan 101,(Bacterial Leaf Blight resistant), Binamoog-7, Binamoog-8, Binamoog-9, Binamoog-10, Binamoog-11, (Yellow Mosaic Virus and Cercospora Leaf Spot Resistant); BARI Mung-4, BARI Mung-6, BARI Gom 30, BARI Gom 33,

Other Stress Tolerant

Stress tolerant other corp varities: BARI Gom 30, BARI Gom 31, (heat tolerant, leaf blight tolerant and rust-resistant); Binamoog-11, (drought and high temperature tolerant) .

Highlited Approach

Potential Impact and Adaptation Option

For Agriculture Sector

  • Potential Impact & Risk
  • Adaptation Intervention
  • Adaptation Measures
Climate Signal and Hazards Potential Impacts Risk Level
SSP1-2.6 SSP5-8.5
Excessive Rainfall
  • Crop damage
  • Cultivation becomes less suitable due to waterlogged condition
  • Loss of cultivable lands
  • Changed cropping pattern
++ +++
Extreme Heat
  • Crop yield change/reduction
  • Pest infestation and diseases outbreak
  • Change flowering pattern and phenological change
++ +++
Cold spell
  • Crop damage
  • Phenological change
  • Pest and diseases
+++ +++
Frequent River Flood
  • Crop damage
  • Loss of livelihoods
+ ++
Early or Frequent Flash Floods
  • • Boro crop damage
  • Harvesting and storage problem
  • Changed cropping pattern
  • Seasonal migration
  • Shifting occupation
++ +++
Severe Drought/Water Scarcity
  • • Irrigation water crisis
  • Less yield
  • Food crisis
  • Pest and diseases
++ ++
Frequent Lightening
  • Death of framers
++ ++
Salinity Increase
  • • Crop damage of traditional varieties
  • Low yield
  • Less suitable irrigation water
  • Cropping pattern change
  • Limited scope of agriculture production
  • Loss of livelihoods
  • Internal displacement
++ +++
Frequent Cyclone and Storm Surge
  • • Crop damage
  • Loss of livelihoods
  • Human death
  • Food and medicine crisis
+++ +++
Sea Level Rise
  • • Less availability of cultivable lands
  • Low yield of crops
  • Hampered food security
++ +++
Code Interventions Domain NAP Strategy Priority Cost (Billion BDT) Private Sector Investment Potential
CSA1 Extension of climate smart technologies for increasing irrigation water use efficiency SWM | SEE | CHT | FPE | HFF | DBA CBL | NNW | CHI | URB S1.1, S1.2, S1.3, S2.1, S2.2, S2.3 High 313 10%
CSA2 Augmentation of surface water for multipurpose use and irrigation SWM | SEE | CHT | FPE | HFF | DBA CBL | NNW | CHI | URB S2.1, S2.2, S2.4, S1.1, S1.2, S1.3, S4.1, S4.2 High 313 10%
CSA3 Extension of stress, pest and diseases tolerant rice and non-rice cropst SWM | SEE | CHT | FPE | HFF | DBA CBL | NNW | CHI S2.1, S2.4, S1.3, S4.1, S4.2 High 846 5%
CSA4 Introduction and up-scaling of innovative and indigenous agriculture SWM | SEE | CHT | FPE | HFF | DBA CBL | NNW | CHI | URB S2.1, S2.4, S1.3, S4.1, S4.2 High 20 5%
CSA5 Crop diversification/intensification for natural resources optimization and reducing stresses of existing and potential climate stress based on climate sensitive crop zoning SWM | SEE | CHT | FPE | HFF | DBA CBL | NNW | CHI | URB S2.1, S2.4, S1.3, S4.1, S4. Moderate 15 20%
CSA6 Farm modernization/ mechanization to reduce climate vulnerability SWM | SEE | CHT | FPE | HFF | DBA CBL | NNW | CHI S2.1, S2.3, S2.4, S1.3 Moderate 15 5%
CSA7 Increase fertilizer use efficiency for enhancing the production (fertilizer deep placement, organic amendment, green manuring, leaf color charts, soil test-based fertilizer application) SWM | SEE | CHT | FPE | HFF | DBA CBL | NNW | CHI S2.1, S1.3, S4.1, S4.2 High 106 40%
CSA8 Extension of Good Agriculture Practices (GAP), Modern Agriculture Technology (MATH) and Sloping Agricultural Land Technology (SALT) SWM | SEE | CHT | FPE | HFF | DBA CBL | NNW | CHI S2.1, S2.4, S1.3, S4.1, S4.2, S4.3 High 103 10%
CSA9 Strengthening and development of impact based Early Warning System and Data Management for Agriculture Nationwide S2.1, S2.2, S2.3, S1.3 High 25 5%
CSA10 Improvement of storage or post-harvest facilities, transport, communication and e-commerce based market facilities for agricultural product Nationwide S2.1, S2.4, S1.3, S4.1, S4.2 High 145 20%
CSA11 Development of agro-food processing industries based on climate-sensitive crop zoning Nationwide S2.3, S1.3 High 52 40%
CSA12 Development of e-commerce and engagement of gender and youth for e-commerce based entrepreneurship Nationwide S2.1, S2.3, S1.3, S4.2 Moderate 11 20%
WDM1: Management and timely maintenance of inside and outside of coastal polders, sea dykes, embankments and cyclone shelters in an integrated and gender sensitive way considering the sea level rise and extreme storm surge height
  • Repair, construct and rehabilitate coastal polders, sea dykes, embankments, and cyclone shelters considering the sea level rise and extreme storm surge height under varying climate change scenarios
  • Regular and timely O&M of coastal polders/ flood embankments
  • Inside polder management through innovative WRM such as Tidal River Management (TRM)
  • Development of storm surge model and impact-based operational early warning and community-based dissemination system for cyclonic storm surge and facilitating emergency response
  • Regular and periodic M&E system development for polder/embankment management
  • Financial protection of critical coastal infrastructures through risk transfer or insurance mechanism
  • Gender-responsive and youth volunteered effective evacuation mechanism during disaster following updated Standing Order on Disaster (2019)
  • Climate-resilient (flood, storm surge, wind tolerant) housing development for coastal poor and vulnerable communities
  • Introduce ‘ limate Resilience llo ance or Fund’ or people in t e most vulnerable areas
  • Integrated climate and disaster risk reduction project
  • Awareness raising and behavioral change program for accessing cyclone or disaster shelters
  • Dighi, pond, reservoir, construction in coastal areas and drought-prone areas

Other NAP Sectors