In Search of “White Gold”: Environmental and Agrarian Changes in Rural Bangladesh

Commercial shrimp in Bangladesh is locally known as “white gold” because of its high transnational value. Historically, farmers have confined shrimp culture to ocean coastlines because shrimp require large volumes of saltwater to reproduce and mature. Recent developments in Bangladesh suggest, however, that the once purely coastal nature of this activity could soon be a thing of the past. Many Bangladeshi rice farmers are adopting low-salinity culture systems that rely upon sea water or salt farm effluent that is trucked inland. This innovation, combined with a low farm gate price for rice and a high price for shrimp in the world market, has led increasing numbers of rice farmers to convert paddy fields to shrimp ponds. Because the rural economy is increasingly linked to the global shrimp commodity chain, it has generated significant changes in the environmental and agrarian landscapes of rural Bangladesh.