Socio-economic condition and nutrient intake of riverine and marine fishing communities of Bangladesh

Abstract

The study was conducted among the 205 randomly selected riverine fishermen
households o f Harirampur upzilla of Manikgonj district and 97 of marine fishing
households of Cox's bazar district. Data were also collected from another 100 nonfishing
households of Harirampur upzilla adjacent to riverine fishing households for
comparison. There was no H.S.C & above level of education among marine fishermen
against 1.1 per cent and 8.2 per cent o f this level of education in riverine and nonfishing
community respectively. By occupation there were 26.1 and 21.1 per cent
fishermen in riverine and marine fishing community respectively. There were 59.5 per
cent riverine and 46.4 per cent marine fishermen in the monthly income category of
Tk. 1000-1999 against 64 per cent of the non-fishing households in the income
categoiy o f Tk. 3000 and above. Per capita per day food intake was 864.4 g in marine
fishermen followed by 809.2g in non-fishermen and 654.8g in riverine fishermen.
Cereal intake was highest (478.34g) in riverine fishermen, 452g in marine fishermen
and about 445g in non-fishermen. Per capita per day energy intake was 2111 Kcal in
marine fishermen, 2101 Kcal in non-fishermen and 1927 Kcal in riverine fishermen.
The overall socio-economic condition of the non-flshermen was better than both o f the
riverine and marine iishermen community.