A Tk 3 lakh loan built a 10,000-box crab farm earning Tk 30-35 thousand a month

A woman in Buri Goalini union, Shyamnagar, Satkhira once lived in hardship on her van-driver husband's earnings. In 2020 she took a Tk 3 lakh loan from a private organisation and built a 10,000-box soft-shell crab farm, locally called a crab point, on a rented two-bigha pond a kilometre from home. Five people, including her husband and in-laws, take turns around the clock, and they hired no workers to save cost. According to Prothom Alo, the farm produces 300 to 400 kg of crab a month and she makes Tk 30-35 thousand profit a month. Her investment in the farm is now Tk 10 lakh. Crabs of 45 to 50 grams are bought and kept in separate boxes, with extra legs trimmed; after moulting, the soft crabs are lifted into fresh water. Prices run from Tk 350-400 up to Tk 1,300 a kg by size, and larger companies buy the crabs for export. With the profit the couple built a 17-bigha shrimp gher, a two-room semi-brick house replaced a broken one, and their daughter goes to school. The district fisheries officer notes that crab seed is still almost entirely caught from the wild and hatchery production is at trial stage.