Implications of COVID-19 on oxbow lake (Baors) Fisher's community, Bangladesh: resilience to food security against probable natural calamities.

ABSTRACT

The purpose of studying the consequence of COVID-19 on oxbow lake (Baor) fisher's community is to counteract the negative impacts on livelihoods with food security and figure out diversified resilience options for sustaining basic needs of life. Individual questionnaire interviews, oral history, focus group discussion, and telephonic interviews were among the methodological techniques used to gather primary data. The Baor fisher's community was impaired with income, food and feeding habit, health and marketing. The Baor fishers had to stop harvesting or reducing the amount of fish harvest because of gradual decreasing of consumer demand and prices of fish during the course of COVID-19 pandemic period. The transportation costs were raised up to 50%-80%, while the prices of fish decreased by 15%-30% prior to the onset of COVID-19 pandemic. The frequency of fish consumption was significantly come down to 37.5%. Many households substituted fish to farm reared hens, eggs, domestic hens and ducks, lentils, and vegetables during the period of lockdown across the country. Supply chains of fish and fish culture inputswere disrupted due to inadequacy of transportation facilities. Many school- and college-going students were dropped outduring the ongoing pandemic situation due to their financial problems (10%) and early marriage (7.5%). The secondary sources of income (labor of netting in other aquaculture farms) of Baor fisher's community were also impaired. The resilience options of this study will be helpful to minimize the sudden economic crises, ensure dynamic fish value chains and food security, protect individuals from ongoing health hazards, and promote sustainable food production systems followed by social cohesion and stabilityagainst the prevailing challenges owing to the pandemic and other natural calamities.