Appendix 5
Livestock in food security in Bangladesh

In Bangladesh 30% of rural households own no land other than the homestead. The average farm size is 0.72ha and family size is seven. Livestock comprising cattle, buffalo, goats, sheep and poultry (including ducks) are an integral part of the farming system in Bangladesh.

Most of the ruminants are owned by farmers with less than one ha of land. Farmers with 0.6 to 1 ha of land have the greatest variety of livestock types. Most of the livestock are owned by rural households with little or no land. This is particularly the case for small ruminants where 66% of goats are kept by the households with 0 -0.5 ha of land (39% of farmers). This group also keeps 33% of cows and 5.85% of bullocks. Households with more than 2 ha of land account for about 33% of the bullocks.

Number of livestock per rural household (average)

• 2.6 cattle and buffalo
• 1 goat/sheep
• 7.5 chickens

Number of livestock per non municipal households

• 1.5 cattle
• 2.7 goat/sheep
• 5.1 poultry

Data on livestock production are not available on a systematic basis.

• There was no significant change in the number of cattle and buffaloes but sheep and goat population rose by 50% in 1977 to 62% in 1983/4.
• Poultry population increased by 37% during the same period.
• Goats produce 28% of total milk yield and 70,000 tonnes of meat each year (19% of total meat production). The rural population eat more of goats cattle, because their small body size and smaller value makes it viable to slaughter an animal for food. There seems to be a high level of neonatal mortality in goats. Goats are usually not housed separately but may be housed in the house or with cattle
• Ducks are more commonly found near areas that are flooded seasonally or near ponds.
• Poultry are widely distributed and are mainly scavengers. Small ruminants and poultry are generally raised by women, who also manage the purchase and sale of poultry, eggs and goats.
• Livestock are usually sold in response to the financial needs of the household rather than in response to market prices. The income from livestock sales is used to meet farm and household expenses.

Value of livestock production in Bangladesh

Large ruminants

The value of large ruminant production is shown in Table A1, which demonstrates that manure is the major product from large ruminants providing 41% of the total livestock production. This is in spite of the use of a highly conservative estimate of the volume of manure output to allow for some not being collected and used specifically for fuel and fertilizer.

The value of draught providing 22% of total output must be considered an underestimate of the importance of draught in food security. The loss of draught power at ploughing time would result in large reductions in crop production. Disease and nutrition are limitations to draught power. For example, foot and mouth disease occurs throughout the year but is more common during the rains, the time at which most ploughing is carried out.

Meat production which provides 15% of large ruminant production may be an overestimate of true production as many cattle are imported from India for slaughter. The contribution of imported cattle to meat production in Bangladesh has not been estimated. Milk production provides 22% of total ruminant production and is believed to be of increasing importance.

Constraints to livestock production

Some major factors were cited as being most important in limiting animal production in Bangladesh: (1) nutrition; (2) animal health; (3) poor extension of information to producers; (4) problems associated with land ownership; (5) absence of effective land use planning; and (6) market infrastructure

Nutrition

Most livestock feed is comprised of crop residues (rice straw) supplemented with green fodder and weeds from cultivated fields. The estimated dry matter intake is 2 kg of rice straw and 1 kg of green fodder per day.

• Weeds from cultivated fields (1 tonne DM per acre)
• Grass is rarely cultivated for fodder. In effect Bangladesh does not have any land for the production of feed exclusively for animals.
• The use of trees and shrubs for livestock fodder is traditionally carried out in Bangladesh. Cultivating these trees does not require arable land or large amounts of labour. The use of trees and shrubs is expanding.
• Leaves from various trees such as jackfruits, mander, korie, shewara and bamboo are fed to goats and sheep.
• Water hyacinth is fed to cattle and buffalo in association with rice straw.

Crop residues consist of (1) straw from rice, wheat and other cereal grains; (2) pulses; and (3) bagasse and cane tops. Rice straw accounts for about 38.4% of the dry matter requirement

Table A-1. Value of large ruminant production in Bangladesh

Small ruminants

Table A-2. Value of small ruminant production in Bangladesh

Poultry

Table A-3. Value of poultry production in Bangladesh

Concentrates consist of rice bran, wheat bran, oil cakes, pulse bran, molasses and fish meal. These contribute only 6.8% of the total dry matter requirement for livestock.

Methods of feeding

• Straw is usually fed chopped and soaked with water with some cut grass.
• Rice gruel mixed with a small amount of oil cake or bran is used in some cases to feed milking cows.

At present 44% of dry matter, 26% of crude protein and 17% of the energy requirements are met from available feed resources. The major feed for livestock is straw, 2kg of straw is available per head per day. Supplementation is limited to about 1 kg of green fodder plus very small quantities of cereal and oilseed by-products

Animal health

• Internal parasites especially when young.
• foot and mouth, black quarter in cattle,
• Newcastle disease, fowl pox, fowl cholera and duck plague in poultry
• Deaths of kids due to infectious diseases and predation are reported to occur.

Current livestock projects and their effect on food security

Agriculture accounts for 63% of household income and livestock development is seen as a major way for the rural poor, in particular those with little or no land, to generate income and make use of underutilised labour.

A number of successful livestock development projects have been implemented mostly through the NGOs, sometimes in association with the Department of Livestock Services. In general the projects concentrate on the development of the poultry sector through the provision of credit for the purchase of stock and stock feed, and the provision of a marketing structure for the products. The small scale poultry farms developed in these projects are mostly housed. Because these projects are small scale and effectively managed, severe disease outbreaks have been avoided. In addition the provision of a large number of small scale producers minimises the risk of a major interruption in the marketing framework.

A problem with the development of a housed poultry system is the need to provide a balanced ration. Because most of the inputs into the feed are imported, the feed provides a weak link in the chain of production, with the transport costs borne by the producer. In some feed suppliers bags of imported ration are available for sale.

Projects to increase milk production and goat production are also undertaken, often with success. Many of these programmes target the improvement in nutrition and health of animals to increase production rather than changing the type of animal. This has been a successful measure because production is low and relatively simple to increase.

Privatisation of veterinary services, in particular the production of vaccines for use in livestock, are part of future projects. The possibility of severe outbreaks of disease following the introduction of a charge for vaccines is a possibility and the provision of an effective training and extension programme on disease control must be implemented as part of any such program.