Dairy An Aig

DAIRY FARMING-AN ALTERNATIVE INCOME GENERATING ACTIVITY By Mohammad Shamsuddoha Assistant Professor, Department of Marketing, University of Chittagong, Bangladesh E-mail” [email protected] / [email protected]

Abstract Dairy products are the substantial contributor to food and protein supply of Bangladesh. Many indigenous small farmers are rearing dairy cattle in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is considered one of the most suitable countries in the world for dairy farming. Development of dairy has generated considerable employment through the production and marketing of dairy and dairy related products. This paper aims to identify whether small and medium dairy farming can be considered as an alternative income generating activity for the development of rural and urban poor peoples of Bangladesh. Keywords: Dairy, Alternative Income Generation, Poor People, Bangladesh

Introduction 80% of the Country's 120 (currently 140) million people live in the rural areas and are highly dependent on agricultural system that is finely attuned to a tropical monsoon climate (UNDP 2005). Agriculture generates 39% of the GDP and the share of the livestock sub-sector is 2.8% (Brammer et al. 1996). The contribution of the small- scale dairy farming to the welfare of the community is huge. The main focus is on the identification of the production level of milk from the homestead dairy, amount of income earned by the dairy farmers, items on which income from the dairy enterprise is spent and the constraints faced by the small-scale dairy farmers. Involvement of poor people in all development initiatives including agriculture is seen as a priority in the national development paradigm. On the other hand, studies on various development endeavors have also endorsed the fact that while female members of farm-based households are playing a significant role in agricultural farm and household activities, their work loads have been consistently higher than that of the male members. Poor people are involved in different household activities like cooking, food preparation, childrearing, livestock and poultry-raising, and household gardening, which are essential for household maintenance. They are also engaged in post-harvest activities, which include rice processing (that is, boiling, drying and husking of paddy). The male members of agricultural

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households are involved in field activities while the female members undertake tasks like seeds preservation, and drying and boiling of paddy. Research studies show that besides their regular household work, 43% of women are involved in activities related to agriculture, and almost 15% undertake agriculture as their second occupation.

Low- income country like Bangladesh has always focused on employment generation as a crucial instrument for achieving a major development goal i.e. poverty reduction (Islam and Muqtada, 1986). For this objective, the promotion of self-employment or entrepreneurial development has been regarded as more effective than industrial development (Hye, 1993; Islam and Muqtada, 1986). Although the progress in poverty reduction in the 1990s was notable, the incidence of rural poverty remains very high at 53 percent in 2000 (World Bank, 2002). The persistent existence of rural poverty implies that self-employment strategies have not necessarily opened up sufficient economic opportunities for many of the rural poor. Selfemployment promotion for poverty reduction has been administered through microcredit programs in Bangladesh. To enable the poor left behind to participate in the rural economy as entrepreneurs, this paper proposes an alternative self-employment approach for poor producers. The paper develops this conceptual relationship in a real rural setting through the observation of an income- generating program implemented by the sample respondents in the field of indigenous dairy farming.

Objectives of the study In the light of dairy as an alternative income generating activities for the rural and urban poor people, the researcher have been focused on indigenous dairy farming in Bangladesh, comparative analysis of dairy with the other income generating activities, feeding resources availed by the farmers

Methodologies of the study The study covered greater Chittagong division in Bangladesh. The total sample respondents were 100 poor rural and urban people selected purposively to comply with the research objective. The researcher selected six areas – Nazirhat, Hathazari, Sikalbaha, Potiya, Gahira & Kadurkhil of Chittagong as the study area. Both primary and secondary data were used in the study. Primary data were collected from December 2007 to March 2008, mainly through in-depth interviews with the sample respondents. Secondary data were collected from different published documents of such as Survey reports, Five Year Plans, and Statistical

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Yearbooks. Further, various publications of national and international organizations like NGO Forums, CODEC, DFID, NRI etc were collected. In the process of analyses of collected data, various statistical tools like averages, percentages, and tables were applied in order to make the study worthier, informative, and useful for the purposes.

Indigenous Dairy Farming in Bangladesh The dependency of rural poor on livestock for their livelihood is quite substantial and this situation is likely to continue for the years to come. More than 90 % of cattle, buffaloes, and goat are being reared in rural areas (GOI, 2006). Among the livestock, dairy cattle play a pivotal role in the livelihoods of the poor people especially those who are poor not only in land assets but also in literacy, access to infrastructure facilities, information and basically unskilled. These rural poor had no option but to take up dairy farming as a main occupation as it is the only enterprise which could provide regular income (Milk Money) serve as asset (moving bank). Dairy farming forms the second or third largest economic activity in the country (Rao et al, 2004).

Dairy farming basically a crop residue based enterprise is slowly getting transformed into external input based system where in the dairy farmers have to depend upon purchased inputs to rear cattle. The importance of feeds in dairy farming needs no emphasis. With increase in the pressure on land due to urbanizations and industrializations and decrease in the area under food crops coupled with increasing demand for milk and milk products the dependency on external or purchased inputs is increasing concomitantly putting pressure on the dairy farmers especially the resource poor. Efforts are being made to reduce the yawning gap between the requirement and availability of feeds and fodders which include technological interventions to increase the yields, bringing more area under fodder crops, conservation of feeds and fodders, improving the nutritive value of the poor quality roughages, formulation of balanced rations, feeding of unconventional feeds etc (Rao et. el., 2007). This study explores how the rural poor can participate in the rural economy as entrepreneurs. It starts by briefly reviewing the conventional approach to self-employment promotion for the rural poor and proposes the concept of an alternative approach to help the poor participate in the rural economy through self-employment. Findings from the empirical examination make the alternative approach substantial.

Dairy: An Alternative Income Generating Activity

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Income generating activities are the prime determinants of level of income. Income is the important ingredient of purchasing ability and thereby fundamentally affects livelihood of the target people. It is generally observed that increase in income is followed by subsequent rise in demand for and search for quality, which pave the way towards better livelihood. Again, the income generating activities varies based on gender and season. In this connection, we were interested to know about different IGA of the female respondents and also the average income derived from such IGAs per month, which is shown below – Table: Income generating Activities of women respondents

Activities

Technology and Inputs

Frequency in %

Average

Average

Average

Cost/

Income/Month

Profit/

Month

(In Taka)

Month

Weaving

Local

12

250

500

250

Bamboo works

Local

16

300

750

450

Vegetable farming

Local

26

950

1500

650

Dairy or cattle raising Local

23

250

850

600

Poultry

23

150

450

300

Local

* I Dollar = Taka 68, Source: Field survey From the above table and figures, it is evident that the principal activity of the poor people vegetable farming (26%), followed by dairy and poultry (both 23%), Bamboo works & Handicrafts (16%), and weaving (51.67%). The average incomes of the respondents from these activities are vegetable farming (Taka 650), followed by dairy (Taka 600), poultry (Taka 300), Bamboo works & Handic rafts (Taka 450) and weaving (Taka 250). It is showing that dairy is producing more money than the other income generating activities in the context of input cost.

Among several income- generating programs, this study focuses on dairy farming. This economic activity is highly replicable in other Bangladeshi settings because the dairy sector has sufficient and increasing domestic demands for its final products, whereas a successful case of handicraft-making in a specific locality cannot be easily replicated in other localities due to difficulties in the procurement of raw materials and limited marketing opportunities. The researchers have observed that most of the respondents are interested in rearing 3-5 or 58 cows in its local made dairy house.

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Table: Feeding resources and feeding practices by the farmers

Source: Rashid, M.M. et. el., (2007)1 , The above table showing that most of the sources of dairy feed are available through local sources such as homestead, rice bran, road side grass, riverside, play ground, embankment which does not have any cost. Besides that, some other few things has to purchased from the local market by the farmers.

Conclusion Rural and urban poor people can play a significant role in the agricultural sector by emphasizing dairy subsector in Bangladesh. Development initiatives over the last few decades clearly showed that sustained improvements in productivity and in people's lives depend upon the recognition of the crucial role played by the poor farmers in production, processing and marketing in the small-scale entrepreneurial sector in the country. In addition, this IGA could give more social acceptability in a sense of self- sufficiency, generating consistent revenue, easy mode of loan facilities from the financiers/NGOs, waste management (dairy wastage could be used in the agricultural land as an alternative of fertilizer or help to generate fireworks for rural burner in kitchen). As an IGA, dairy is one of

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Rashid, M.M. et. el., 2007, “ Study of the Dairy Cattle Management Systems at Farmer’s Level in Jessore District of Bangladesh”, Pakistan Journal of Nutrition, 6 (2): 155-158, 2007, ISSN 1680-5194

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the handful and important activities which can able to generate more revenue than the other activities to the rural and urban poor people.

References 1. Brammer, H., Asaduzzaman, M., and Sultan, P. (1996). “Effects of climate and sea level changes on the natural resources of Bangladesh”, in R.A. Warrick and Q.K. Ahmed (eds.), The Implications and Climate and Sea-Level Change for Bangladesh, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 143-203. 2. Hussain, S. (1997): Recent trends in the rural economy of Bangladesh poverty and development. Dhaka, Bangladesh. Institute of Development Studies Journal PP 216236. 3. Hye, SA (1993). Review on labour and employment. In Growth and Development in Rural Bangladesh: A Critical Review, M Asaduzzaman and K Westergaard (eds.), pp. 261-405. Dhaka: University Press. 4. Islam, R and M Muqtada (1986). Employment and poverty alleviation: An overview. In Bangladesh: Selected Issues in Employment and Development, R Islam and M Muqtada (eds.), pp. 1-10. New Delhi: International Labour Organisation. 5. Human Development Reports, UNDP, 2005 6. Parthasarathy Rao, O; Birthal, P.S; Kar, D; Wickramaratne and Shreshta, H.R. (2004.), “Increasing livestock productivity in mixed crop livestock systems in south Asia”, ICRISAT, Hyderabad, India. 7. Rao et. el., 2007, “Dairy cattle feeding – evidence based pro-poor institutional approach” Rajiv Gandhi College of Veterinary & Animal Sciences, pondicherry-605 009.

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