Marketing and Value Chain Analysis of Mud Crab

Bangladesh is bestowed with a large coastal belt that supports the livelihoods of millions mainly through fishing and aquaculture related activities. While shrimp tops the list of the valuable aquatic products of Bangladesh but has caused grave environmental and socio-economic consequences in the wake of its expansion. Such consequences have not been internalised by the shrimp industry, instead they have been passed on to certain disadvantaged groups, which jeopardized the livelihoods of millions having no sustainable alternatives. Recent studies have identified a number of potential alternative livelihood options for the disadvantaged groups, one of the options is mud crab Scylla sp. trading that has been gaining popularity among the coastal community of greater Khulna and Chittagong regions. However, as with other aquatic products the main problem of pro-poor entrepreneurship development in the country is that vertical integration between the primary producers and the consumers in the marketing system is yet to be developed. In absence of proper policy orientation, the activities of a number of intermediaries having no stakes in the production and processing of the products often make such integration really difficult. In addition, coastal communities are more vulnerable to lose out in the marketing chain as the