Abstract

Aquaculture contributes to the livelihood of the poor through improved employment and income. Due to its
smallholder operating size, free from high advanced-technology machinery, rural aquaculture is labour intensive.
Based on this, villagers who do not have access to land can at least earn a living by providing manpower to other
aquaculture farms. It is believed that aquaculture is one of the fastest ways for the poor to earn a living meanwhile,
in that, it serves as a valuable foreign exchange for national development. Aquaculture helps the nation in earning
valuable foreign exchange, increases food production level, and helps in diversifying the economy which results in
job creation in the countryside. Small scale aqua farming also assists the remote population to be self-sufficient
without relying much on imports. Yet, more proportion of these gains goes to the non-poor rather than the poor
due to the imbalance in resources allocation in the current stage. Therefore, this paper concludes that there is need
for government policies to implement holistic strategies which include the poor in the aquaculture development as
part of their national development to ensure that entire population of the country would be benefited. Also,
institutional and infrastructure aid are urgent in need from the government for diversification of production and
trade, execution of ethical aqua farming techniques and development of backward and forward linkages, with
resource-poor household as the main target.