Home ›› 03 Feb 2023 ›› Front
The price of pangas fish, one of the comparatively cheaper key protein sources for low-income people, has increased significantly affecting their required daily protein intake.
Less supply in the market due to production curtails and increasing transportation costs, fish feed prices, and all necessary commodities have shot up the price of pangas, said fishers and traders.
Compared to the last year, the price of the pangas has increased by Tk 50 to Tk 70 per kg depending on the size.
According to the Year Book of Fisheries Statistics published by the Department of Fisheries, the production of pangas fish was 5.10 lakh tonnes in 2017, 4.53 lakh tonnes in 2018, 4.58 lakh tonnes in 2019, 4.05 lakh tonnes in 2020 and 4.02 lakh tonnes in 2021.
According to Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute (BFRI), 11.55 per cent of the total fish produced in the country are pangas.
Fishers are interested in other fishes than pangas
Monowar Hossain, a commercial fish producer from Cumilla, said fish feed prices have increased to Tk 60-70 per kg now from Tk 35-40 one and a half years back.
He said fish farmers are now producing high-value pabda, gulsha, ruhi and katla instead of pangas because they could yield better profit.
Junaid Ahmad, a fisheries entrepreneur from Fulbaria upazila of Mymensingh, told The Business Post that at present, most of the pond owners are now avoiding pangas farming or reducing farming areas.
“During the pandemic, the price of pangas dropped drastically and its demand decreased in the consecutive two years of 2020 and 2021 due to the rising question about whether eating pangas fish may create disease,” he said.
Some people believe that pangas creates some diseases in the human body.
Professor Dr Mohammad Mahfujul Haque, Faculty of Fisheries, Bangladesh Agricultural University, said during the pandemic pangas farmers have faced huge losses and they are reluctant to continue pangas farming.
“On the other hand, due to the increasing fish feed prices, fishers are not profiting from Pangas farming which also led to reduced production.
And the reduced production led to a price hike of the pangas fish,” he added.
Md Molla Sumsur Rahman Shahin, president of the Fish Farm Owners Association of Bangladesh, told The Business Post, “Pangas fishers are reluctant to pangas farming because they do not get back their production cost due to price hikes of the fish feed. Secondly, the fish farmers also failed to collect proper sized baby fish and these undersized fishes do not grow up as expected.”
Who is suffering the most?
Pangas is also known as the poor’s fish in the country and they are the most sufferers due to the production shortfall and price hike of the fish, said the traders.
“Limited-income people fulfill their protein source through eggs, pangas fish, and lentils. Now the prices of all these products are high. What should we eat then?” said Abdul Jalal, a buyer of pangas fish at the Jatrabari fish market.
He said, “I bought pangas fish at Tk 120–130 per kg one year ago which is now Tk 180-200.”
