Livelihood of 2m coastal people at risk

More than two million people are directly involved in the seasonal dried fish processing sector. The peak season begins in October and continues till May next year. The owners of dried fish units usually stock dried fish for making profits by selling those during the low season.

But during last season, the demand for dried fish fell drastically both in domestic and global markets for the adverse impact of coronavirus, pushing the sector into a tight corner.Tanzira Khatun, project director of a ‘safe dry fish project’ run by an NGO, told the Daily Sun that more than two lakh people are engaged in the dried fish processing sector but this season they failed to operate due to financial crisis.

She said neither the government nor the private sector came forward to help for dried fish processing sector and their workers despite the huge losses caused by a fall in demand both in local and global markets.

Sector insiders said they had stockpiled a large quantity of dried fish as they could not sell products due to lockdown since March 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Amid a fall in demand due to the pandemic, they have to sell their dried fish stocks, which are perishable, at Tk 100 to Tk 150 per kg, which usually is sold at Tk 300 to Tk 1300 per kg. A large portion of the stocks was damaged for not selling that in the right time.

“The preservation of dried fish in cold storage is very costly and the natural preservation system works for a certain period only,” said Amanullah Sordar, a dried fish trader of Najiratek in Cox’s Bazar.

The demand for dried fish yet to gear up, and the buyers of Khatunganj of Chottgram, the dried fish trading hub, are giving orders for a small quantity. As a result, dried fish producers could not pay the workers, he said.Rahmat Ullah Chowdhury, CEO of Finge, an online marketplace for organic dry fish, said the demand for dried fish has dropped both in local and global markets due to Covid-19 pandemic and more than 2 lakh people including owners and workers in the dried fish sector are bearing the brunt of the crisis.

They need loan support from the government to survive the crisis, he said.

“This sector has huge potential to earn foreign currency. But the progress is slow because of a lack of government support. The sector should be given the status of an industry. Loan interest rates for businessmen in this sector should be made single digit as in the case of the industrial sector,” Rahmat Ullah said.

Atikullah Sawdagor, president of the Najirartek Dried Fish Traders Cooperative Society, said, “Usually, we produce the lion’s share of dried fish during the last few months of the season. The production has dropped to almost zero since March for want of fish as the fishermen couldn’t catch fish for the lockdown situation. Moreover, we could not send dried fish to Chattogram due to transportation crisis,”

He mentioned that many of their orders were cancelled due to transportation problem, as they would not be able to deliver dried fish as per the schedule. “The owners and workers are now passing idle time. The loss of the Najirartek dried fish village might cross Tk 1 billion,” he mentioned.

He sought loan supports from the government at low interest to overcome the crisis.

He informed that around 50,000 workers, two-thirds of whom are women, are working in 1,040 dried fish processing units in the village and they are fully depended on this sector for their livelihoods.

Marium Begum, a day labourer, said they are a five-member family with two daughters and one son. “My husband is also a day labourer. I used to earn Tk 350 to 400 a day and my husband Tk 450 to 600 per day from our work at a dry fish processing unit. But due to coronavirus, we cannot work like before.”

“All our savings have already been spent to run the family, and the dried fish unit owner can’t pay us now due to the losses he incurred during the pandemic,” she said.

Another day labourer Jamal said he is the only earning person for his five-member family and loss of income during the pandemic has pushed him to the edge.

Civic Engagement and Capacity Development Specialist of WINROCK International’s CLIMB project Md Tanvir Sharif said the Marium and Jamal’s story is shared by everyday labourers of the dried fish sector in Cox’s Bazar.

He said some of the workers took loans from the owners last year and for that, they also used their children as workers to repay the loans. This year, such kind of borrowers will face a huge problem, as they cannot repay the loans, he added.

Anower Hossain, owner of a dried fish unit at Kuakata, Patuakhali, said the supply the dried fish to Khatuganj of Chattogram after processing, but the demand has dropped drastically during the coronavirus pandemic.

Molla Imdadulla, Patuakhali district fisheries officer, said that both owners and workers of dried fish units have been affected during the corona pandemic.

He said the dried fish unit owners employed a large number of people in the coastal areas, but this year the owners of dried fish units could not run the business due to financial crisis caused by last year’s losses.