Geof D. Wood

This is the first study of social, economic and technical aspects of aquaculture in Bangladesh. The authors analyse rural society through the trading activities necessary in aquaculture. These insights have practical implications and this book shows how it is possible to build on existing relationships and technologies and facilitate innovative poverty-focused strategies. This study of the fish trading network demonstrates that a preoccupation with high technology 'quick fix' solutions in development may overlook the indigenous problem-solving strategies of local people and documents a particularly striking example.

This book addresses, in the Bangladesh context, the fundamental processes of agrarian structural change and their gender implications, opportunities for wider participation by landless men and women in agricultural growth; the social implications of rural works and fish culture programmes; rural institutions and poverty alleviation; and broad institutional questions arising from the interaction between state, market and community (including NGOs) concerning corruption, good governance and the franchise state. Throughout the volume there is long-range, but grounded speculation which connects processes of 'urbanisation' to patterns of land use and shifting sets of opportunities for poor actors. The author concludes by offering eleven working principles as a guide through the development maze of poverty alleviation in Bangladesh.

Analyses an innovation in rural development, whereby groups of landless labourers are helped to invest in irrigation equipment and provide a service to farmers, whose holdings may be so dispersed as to make mechanized irrigation technology impractical.