by criminal gangs. i ve come to bangladesh to hear first hand about the hidden abuses in the industry, and the detrimental effect of saltwater shrimp farms on these women s health and livelihoods. poor people are being exploited by the rich and powerful and poverty is not being eradicated. these shrimp are so expensive, and poor people can t even dream of buying them. it s taken me years to gain exclusive access to the working
ms pelosi has defended her trip, emphasising its purpose was to underline america s respect for taiwan s democracy. now on bbc news, shrimps, saris and guns. faarea masud investigates how the demand for shrimp is destroying land in bangladesh. along the coastline is riverbeds of rural bangladesh, thousands of fields where rice was once grown have been converted into intensive shrimp farms, catering to a multibillion dollar global industry. since the explosion of the industry in the 1980s when the world s appetite for this luxury food grew, there have been increasing allegations of violence and land grabbing
and there is sometimes a problem with drinking water supply in those areas as a result of the saltwater proliferating in the area. what solutions would you propose to improve that condition for the farms? whilst bangladeshi shrimp exporters like shyamul push for growth in the industry, the country s law is also at work.
the police didn t respond to our request for comment on the weapons involved in the shrimp industry, but khushi kabirfrom the non governmental organisation called nijera kori, or do it yourselves, told me about the history of guns in the industry. they used to be armed. now they are less armed. they were very violent before, because they had gotten away with it in the past, so they thought they could get away with it, but because of all the noises we were making at all the levels, arms, etc has gone down considerably. now what they use is manipulation. iasked people, especially at the village level, you know you are risking your life, you know you are going to get killed 7 and yet you resist. and they said, we have nothing else to lose. they had to fight a lot, so did we, but the fact that we don t give up,
i ve come to bangladesh to hear first hand about the hidden abuses in the industry, and the detrimental effect of saltwater shrimp farms on these women s health and livelihoods. poor people are being exploited by the rich and powerful and poverty is not being eradicated. these shrimp are so expensive, and poor people can t even dream of buying them. it s taken me years to gain exclusive access to the working conditions of this remote, often secretive community. now these women farmers are fighting back to protect their rights.