Role of Alternate Income Generation (AIG) Activities on Livelihood of Coastal Fishermen of Bangladesh for Climate Change Adaptation

The coastal zone of Bangladesh hosts over 35 million people where 3 million are extremely vulnerable to adverse effect of climate change. They lose working days for substantial increase of cyclone, flood, signal number 3 or above in the Bay. The objectives of the study were capacity development of poor fishermen and women and piloting of agriculture technology based Alternate Income Generation (AIG) activities for their livelihood improvement. AIG options were piloted among 450 fisher households in three coastal locations from January 2010 to April 2012 with equal representations from each. The piloting of AIG includes experience sharing, needs assessment, inputs distribution, providing skill development training and support services, monitoring and case study. Results showed that due to AIG options, annual total income of fisher families increased substantially. The increased income from fish sale is due to increase in fish price and additional fish from fish culture. Similarly, income from poultry and livestock have increased significantly compared to baseline. Result also showed the increased number of poultry and livestock possessed by fisher families during post-intervention period. Case studies clearly showed that additional income was accrued from AIG activities undertaken by fisher families.