Community Enterprise Approach
SHISUK, a national NGO has been working on community development and sustainable agriculture since its inception in 1994. Daudkandi is one of the best practice sites, where in 1997 SHISUK pioneered a Community-based collective enterprise initiative on floodplain Aquaculture (popularly known as the Daudkandi model). SHISUK has awarded the National Gold medal by The Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock in 1999 as the pioneer of the Community Enterprise model for the floodplain. The model has selected as one of the SAARC Best Practices for livelihood development in 2007. With the support of the Bangladesh Government (KGF) SHISUK is now implementing adaptive trials in other floodplains of the country like Tidal floodplains on the coast and depressed areas in North Bangladesh.
The community enterprise approach (CEA) constitutes mobilizing the community and creating ’community enterprises’ which are cooperative business entities driven by corporate incentives and managed with a democratic mandate from the community. These community enterprises aim to maximize the utility of existing resources in the community. This approach is also distinct because it emphasizes the involvement of the entire community, not specific segments of the local community. The enterprises are owned by the local community itself, which not only generates income and jobs for the community, but the participation of community members in decision-making, management, and implementation of the projects turn the community members into entrepreneurs, empowered and resilient.
In the case of SHISUK projects, CEA has been used to facilitate social development in one of the most vulnerable communities across Bangladesh; communities that are affected by flood water, turning their agricultural land into flood-plain for a considerable period of time during the monsoon season. These communities did not utilize the flood-plain for any income generation. To turn the floodplains into profitable aquaculture projects, CEA helped to align individual interests with community interests by making community members shareholders (owners) of the projects, and also empowering all community members to democratically elect their representatives for the board of directors, who made management decisions. While the NGO, SHISUK provided a platform for dialogue, ideas, and the offer for support, it allowed the solutions to unfold from the farming community itself.
Following Community Enterprise Approach, Daudkandi sub-district is producing more than 25,000 metric tons of fish annually in the floodplain during monsoon only, which was used to be unproductive. The productivity has increased by more than 4 metric tons/hectare. On the other hand due to aquaculture multiple benefits are raised like, market transformation, strengthening social cohesion, local governance, collective decision-making to build a resilient community, increased nutrition intake, improved gender relations and women empowerment and sustainable community development.
Community Enterprise Approach (CEA) is also a vehicle for technology transfer and support to maintain the Food Safety Code of practice. CEA in floodplain management brings positive result not only in fish production but also in sustainable agriculture and safe food production.
CEA involves
• Zero cleaning (weeds) cost, the floodplain remains clean because of aquaculture
• Zero tillage, synchronization of draining the water and planting the seedlings need no-tillage
• Less fertilizer cost, the supplementary feed for fish and fish droppings contributes to soil fertility
• Less/no pest manifestation and pesticide use
• Less drawing of groundwater, as the seedlings are planted using the soil moisture
• More recharge of groundwater table
SHISUK is implementing the program with the support of FAO Bangladesh to promote Food Safety Culture in Bangladesh since 2009. The key focus of the intervention in Daudkandi is to ensure the food safety of the aquaculture and agriculture production in that area.
• Zero cleaning (weeds) cost, the floodplain remain clean because of aquaculture
• Zero tillage, synchronization of draining the water and planting the seedlings need no tillage
• Less fertilizer cost, the supplementary feed for fish and fish droppings contributes to soil fertility
• Less/no pest manifestation and pesticide use
• Less drawing of groundwater, as the seedlings are planted using the soil moisture
• more recharge of groundwater table
SHISUK is implementing program with the support of FAO Bangladesh to promote Food Safety Culture in Bangladesh since 2009. The Key focus of the intervention in Daudkandi is to ensure food safety of the aquaculture and Agriculture production in that area.
CLIMATE IMPACTS
Bangladesh has more than 2.83 million hectares of floodplains, this seasonal (during monsoon) common pull resource (CRP) mostly remains untapped and unutilized, because lack of collective initiative, holds out a bright promise of accelerating Growth Together (Fish production enhanced from typical yield 4 metric tons per hectare in CEA floodplain aquaculture systems).
More areas became and would be flooded as an impact of climate change, which will disrupt our existing agriculture practice and livelihood. CEA intervention can be an adaptation model to make use of the changing condition with improved productivity.
Active involvement and practice and teach-ins when required, the stakeholders' ability has enhanced to cope with natural disasters such as storms, floods, and droughts and adapt to ongoing processes resulting from climate change; whilst the economic gains the project brings has increased resilience in facing these events at both the household and wider community level.
SHISUK’s core competency lies with community
mobilization for Sustainable and environment-friendly community-led collective
enterprise initiatives based on local potentials or Common Resources Pool (CRP)
like Floodplains. SHISUK pioneered Community based collective enterprise
initiative on floodplain Aquaculture (popularly known as the Daudkandi model)
through action research. SHISUK’s model of Community
Enterprise Approach has awarded National Gold Medal in 1999 by the Ministry of
Fisheries and Livestock, Govt. of Bangladesh, and selected as one of the SAARC
Best Practices for Attainment of the SAARC Development Goals under the
livelihoods category in 2007. Daudkandi, under the Cumilla district, is one of
the best practice sites, wherein 1997. It is also cited as a development
approach in the 7th and 8th Five Years Plan of the
Bangladesh Government.
In Bangladesh, 2.8 million ha of water bodies are formed every year by
the inundation of floodplains; Due to climate change, more areas would be flooded.
Most of these floodplains are composed of private lands, which are mainly used
for agricultural purposes during dry seasons. A floodplain usually becomes a
single water body, connecting lands which are owned by different owners, and
sometimes under different property rights regimes. Thus, they become unusable
for investment-based resource development or extraction unless some collective
arrangement is made among rights holders about all the aspects of any specific
uses. Besides, any initiative like Flood Plain Aquaculture (FPA) on floodplain
would also require considerable investment in infrastructure because of the
water body’s nature, in addition, to fish culture-related investments. There is
also concern over the unenforceability of access controls and non-compliance
with other rules, which might cause benefits to be appropriated by
non-authorized and/or non-investor community members. An adaptable model of
collective and self-organized FPA management must demonstrate that such
obstacles can be dealt with, and considerable returns can be generated from
aquaculture activities in floodplains.
SHISUK initiated action research in 1997 to turn the floodplains into a
profitable resource, aquaculture in monsoon and agriculture after the flood,
Community Enterprise Approach (CEA) constitutes mobilizing the community and
creating ‘community enterprises’ which are cooperative business entities driven
by corporate management incentives and managed with the democratic mandate from
the community. The CEA helped to align individual interests with community
interest through making community members shareholders (owners) of the
projects, and also empowering all community members to democratically elect
their representatives for the board of directors, who made management
decisions. While the NGO, SHISUK provided a platform for dialogue, ideas, and
the offer for support, it allowed solutions to unfold from the farming
community itself.
Community Enterprise Approach (CEA) in Floodplain fisheries management
has demonstrated community engagement for environment-friendly sustainable
management of the large floodplain areas and how a well-managed floodplain, can
generate significant increases in fish production, brings positive result in
sustainable agriculture and income that drives forward development.
Result of Community Enterprise Approach
1. Jobs and livelihoods (SDG 1): CEA-based
aquaculture generates 24 category Jobs and Livelihoods in backward and forward
linkage in the intervention area (@3.9 HH/ha).
2. Food security (SDG 2): CEA has increase fish
production in floodplain @4MT/ha in intervention area whereas the national
average is less than 150kg/ha. Augmented income, availability, and Priority
marketing for the community have increased Protein intake and Food security.
3. (SDG 11): CEA not only generates income and
jobs for the community, but the participation in decision-making and
implementation of the projects turn the community members into entrepreneurs,
empowered and resilient. Collective production has reduced disaster risk
through collective risk-sharing.
4. Sustainable consumption and production (SDG 12)
has addressed through enhanced crop intensity in fallow/underutilized
floodplains but also brings positive results in sustainable use of the resources
mentioned in the environmental Impact section.
