Livestock Services and the Poor

A Global Initiative

Livestock Services and the Poor in Bangladesh

A Case Study

March 2003 Nasrin Jahan Hafezur Rahman Edited by Sanne Chipeta

Danish Agricultural Advisory Centre Udkaersvej 15, Skejby DK-8200 Aarhus N, Denmark

Phone: (+45) 87 40 51 02 Fax: (+45) 87 40 50 86 E-Mail: sac@lr. dk Homepage: www.globallivestock.org

An Initiative by

Danida, IFAD and The World Bank

List of Contents
List of Contents Abbreviations and acronyms Background Objectives Methodology Poor livestock keepers in Bangladesh Poverty in Bangladesh The livestock sector and the poor Livestock in Bangladesh The traditional role of livestock Livestock production systems The livestock population Livestock species and their productivity Financing livestock production Marketing of livestock produce Gender Roles in Livestock Production Ownership of Livestock Division of Labour According to Gender Gender roles and labour migration Gender Aspects of Technology Livestock Service Delivery System Public sector services Breeding services Fodder technology Training Animal health services Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) The private sector Livestock Activities for the poor Partnership of GOB and NGOs Exclusion of the poorest Livestock services need Assessment Impact of Livestock Development Beneficiaries of the livestock programmes Impact on the livestock production systems Impact on the general farming system HIV/AIDS and livestock in Bangladesh Conclusions References 2 3 4 4 5 6 6 7 9 9 9 9 10 14 14 15 15 15 16 16 17 17 17 17 17 18 19 21 21 21 25 25 29 29 31 32 33 35 39

Abbreviations and acronyms

ADB AI BLRI BRAC BRDB CLDDP CLO DANIDA DLS DOCs ESDO FAO FFYP GKF GMF GOB LFA MB MFIs MH NGO NRDS PA PLDP PO POPI PRA PRSP RDRS SLDP TMSS UDP ULO UNDP UVH VC VFA VS VVPL Asian Development Bank Artificial Insemination Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee Bangladesh Rural Development Board Community Livestock and Dairy Development Project Community Livestock Officer Danish International Development Agency Directorate of Livestock Services Day Old Chicks Eco Social Development Organisation Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations Fifth Five Year Plan Grameen Krishi Foundation Grameen Motsho Foundation Government of Bangladesh Livestock Field Assistants Model Breeder Micro Financing Institution Mini Hatchery Non Government Organisation Noakhali Rural Development Services Programme Assistants Participatory Livestock Development Project Programme Officer Peoples Originated Programme Implementation Participatory Rural /Rapid Appraisal Poverty Reduction Strategic Paper Rangpur Dinajpur Rural Services Small-holder Livestock Development Project Thengamara Mahila Sabuj Sangha Uttara Development Programme Upazila Livestock Officer United Nations Development Programme Upazila Veterinary Hospital Veterinary Compounder Veterinary Field Assistant Veterinary Surgeon Veterinary Vaccine Production Laboratory

Background
Livestock development can play an important role in reducing rural poverty. A part of the livelihood of approximately 600 million of the 900 million rural poor in the world today depends on livestock, either as a source of income, food and fibre for their sustenance, traction, organic fertiliser and/or investment. About 100 million of these people depend on livestock as the only source of sustenance. For the rural poor livestock are one of the few means of creating assets and of breaking out of the poverty trap. Thus by ensuring adequate and appropriate livestock services for rural poor, one can make an important contribution to reducing rural poverty. Most of the existing livestock services focus on high potential areas with wealthy livestock owners and they mostly provide breeding and health services suitable for high-input livestock production systems, which the poor cannot afford. A recent review of a number of livestock projects showed that most of them did not focus on poverty and many failed in their objectives. There is a lack of knowledge of the priority needs of poor livestock keepers, and of the most appropriate approaches, technologies and channels in addressing those needs. The voice of the poor is not properly represented at policy level. Most studies of these subjects have focussed on the delivery of animal health services, and even those studies are poorly disseminated, and not available in easy accessible forms to policy makers and those responsible for the design of new projects. The exchange of experiences between the different stakeholders is weak. A number of studies are carried out, but in a rather uncoordinated fashion, and experience shows that when the projects/ programmes are terminated, the lessons learned are neither collected nor integrated into the design of new programmes. Thus Danida, IFAD and the World Bank have initiated a Global initiative for Livestock Services and the Poor (GLSP) in order to address the needs for poverty focus, collection of experience and co-ordination of livestock programmes. The site visit to Bangladesh was conducted as part of the implementation of the first phase of the Global Initiative: Livestock Services and the Poor. This is a global review of knowledge about and experiences from livestock services with regard to poverty alleviation. The first phase of the Global Initiative has been executed from October 2001 to April 2003 to prepare a comprehensive overview of current experiences of the impact of livestock services on the poor in Bangladesh. A site visit to Bangladesh brought together the Danish team, which works on the Global Initiative, and the Bangladesh study team with the purpose of initiating the Bangladesh case study. The participants of the Danish team were: Ms. Sanne Chipeta and Mr. Egil Hoydal both from DAAC, and the Bangladesh team consisted of: Dr. Nasrin Jahan and Dr. Hafezur Rahman

Objectives
The case study is intended to both further inform the wider initiative and to address specific issues, which are important in order for the poor to be able to participate in developing livestock production in Bangladesh. The Bangladesh case study focussed on providing exemplified information to the Global review, which pays particular attention to the local policy and poverty situation. The specific objectives are to:

Increase the knowledge and awareness of the needs of the poor livestock keepers and other poor people in Bangladesh, who could potentially benefit from livestock development Understand the policy and institutional framework, which define and perhaps constrain the delivery of livestock services to the poor Collect the experiences of the impact of the general livestock services in Bangladesh on the poor livestock keepers as well as examples of particularly poverty-focussed livestock services in Bangladesh

Methodology
The methodology consists of a desk study of already completed and ongoing livestock development activities, which have addressed the livestock services of the poor in Bangladesh. Services provided by the Directorate of Livestock Services (DLS), NGOs and other private sectors to rural livestock farmers were also reviewed. Moreover, field studies have been conducted in the areas where livestock development projects are being or have been implemented or in areas with livestock development potential. For the field study PRA sessions were conducted for interaction with rural poor and other livestock stakeholders belonging to some of the ongoing livestock development projects (PLDP, SLDP -II, CLDDP, etc.). Semi-structured Interviews (SSI) with livestock keepers - mostly poultry, cattle and goat rearers - NGO Programme Officers (PO), Programme Assistants (PA), Community Livestock Officers (CLO), Livestock Field Assistants (LFAs) and other rural committee members were conducted. Open discussions were held with village group members about different aspects of livestock rearing, their access to livestock and other services, inputs and benefits. The service delivery system and veterinary coverage were also discussed with Upazila level personnel of DLS. About 30 villages in different geophysical locations were visited. The locations included plain land, hills, coastal belt and forests under the districts of Gaibandha, Thakurgaon, Rangpur, Dinajpur, Serajgonj, Noakhali, Bogra and Sherpur. The villages included poor farmers belonging to Bengalis and ethnic minorities like Mahato, Saotal and Garoes. Furthermore, a PRA session was conducted with a group of HIV positive people to know their preferences and problems in the context of livestock as a livelihood option.

Poor livestock keepers in Bangladesh

Poverty in Bangladesh
With a population of 125 million and a density of more than 880 people per square kilometre Bangladesh is considered the most densely populated country in the world.. About 10 % do not possess any land, 49% possess less than 0.50 acres of land, 85% possess less than 5 acres land and only 15% own 5 acres or more land (BBS, 1998). The income per capita is very low - USD 380 and nearly half (47.0 per cent) of the 125 million people are estimated to live in absolute poverty. They consume less than 2,122 calories per day and 22.5 per cent are hard-core poor. The income of female-headed households is 40.0 per cent lower than the income of male-headed households and 8 per cent of the femaleheaded households (FHH) fall within the category of hard-core poor. Female-headed households without access to land are probably the most vulnerable poverty group in Bangladesh (BIDS, 1996). Poverty is most commonly assessed by means of income or consumption criteria. In this interpretation a person is considered poor only if his/her income level is below the defined poverty line, or if the consumption falls below a stipulated minimum of 2122 calorie per day (Bangladesh Economic Review, 2001). When the poor themselves are asked what poverty means to them, income is only one of many aspects, which they highlight. Their other commonly mentioned criteria are: Land ownership Ownership and type of house Food availability (both quality and quantity) Sources of livelihood Possession of livestock, and Size of debt/ mortgage

(IFAD, 2002) Some other important criteria mentioned by the poor are: Sense of insecurity or vulnerability Lack of voice in the community or government Poor health Literacy Lack of education, and Limited access to assets

(FGD conducted by the team) The scope and quality of service delivery influence many of these factors. This gives rise to basic need perspectives and include the need for basic health and education, safe water and other services, which are required to prevent people from falling into the poverty category. Recently poverty has been defined in terms of the absence of capability to meet these basic needs, but also to achieve goals of participating in the quality life of the community and influencing the decision-making process (Author's observation). A sustainable livelihood analysis (SLA) draws on this improved understanding of poverty, but also on other streams of 6

analysis, which for instance relate households, gender, governance and farming systems and bring together relevant concepts to allow poverty to be understood more holistically. Many studies conducted in Bangladesh by NGOs, GOs and donors show that poverty is strongly associated with a number of household and community characteristics. The most frequently cited poverty correlates are land ownership, occupation, gender disparities, marital/health status and age of household head, social exclusion, community characteristics, and other factors. In general livestock, especially cattle, are considered assets of rich people. However, a number of chickens and ducks (in southern districts) are present in most families, even in poor households, although they are not indicated as assets due to the high risk of mortality. Thus ultra-poor, hard-core poor and destitute households need additional support in terms of minimum food and nutrition access before they can become credit-worthy and run the risks related to livestock rearing (IFAD, 2002).

The livestock sector and the poor

Livestock are well integrated into the mixed farming system in Bangladesh, where 25 per cent of the population are directly involved in livestock production and another 60 per cent are indirectly involved (Bangladesh Economic Review, 2001). Livestock are reared not only to be eaten on occasion but also to earn cash income through a range of other products such as meat, milk, eggs, draught power, manure, skin, feather and horns. Sale of livestock and livestock products enable poor families - in particular destitute women - to attain increased stability in income for the family without disrupting household activities. A Small-scale livestock production does not compete with crop production. Instead crop and livestock production supplement each other. The livestock production therefore provides opportunities for rural people to improve their livelihood without disrupting the balance of the integrated farming system. 62.6 per cent of households that possess less than 2.5 acres of land rear large ruminants, 75.7 per cent small ruminants and 80.0 per cent poultry. As such, the livestock sub-sector is the principal key to addressing poverty alleviation and to generating income in the country. National policy for poverty reduction The Government of Bangladesh (GOB) has recently developed a National Strategy for Economic Growth, Poverty Reduction and Social Development (December 2002) with antipoverty policies and institutions in five broad avenues: 1. 2. The first set of policies would accelerate and expand the scope for pro-poor economic growth and for increasing income and employment of the poor The second set would foster human development of the poor by raising their capability through education, health, nutrition, employment-oriented skill training and social interventions The third set of policies would support women's advancement and close the evolving gender gaps The fourth set of policies would provide the poor with social protection against anticipated and unanticipated income/consumption shock and vulnerabilities to disasters through targeted and other efforts. Environmental sustainability will be a key factor here as a cross-cutting issue The fifth set would favourably influence participatory governance, enhance the voice of the poor, and improve non-material dimensions of well-being including security, power 7

3. 4.

5.

and social inclusion by improving the performance of antipoverty and disaster preparedness and mitigation institutions and removing institutional hurdles of social mobility In this poverty reduction strategy paper (PRSP) the emphasis is on accelerated growth of agriculture and the rural non-farm sector, in which forestry, fisheries and livestock have a high potential to contribute even more than they do already. GOB has as such recognised livestock production as the most essential element in connection with poverty reduction and food security acceleration of the poor, since most of the landless farmers have no other options than livestock production to improve their livelihood. GOB also emphasised the potential role of the private sector and of the NGOs for livestock development. The Fifth Five Year Plan (Planning Commission, 1998) recommended that NGOs activities should focus on target group formation, training, extension, credit disbursement, supervision and recovery, and on conduction of socio-economic studies relating to development projects. It also stressed public sector projects of similar components to be implemented by NGOs. With expanded space and emergence of NGOs and other stakeholders, the core activities of GOBs public sector body Directorate of Livestock Services (DLS) were redefined to improve professional skills and capacities in two major areas like logistic support and disease control. The organisational restructuring has focussed on key areas like regular monitoring of animal diseases, maintenance of disease protection activities and training to create a cadre of well-trained private veterinary surgeons and paravets. The main objectives of the livestock sub-sector as outlined in the FFYP are to develop appropriate technologies for livestock production, generate income and alleviate poverty through livestock development. The sector also aims at involving the private sector and NGOs in producing cattle and poultry feeds, processing milk and supplying input and marketing. A changed approach has been streamlined in the recent decade in co-operation with NGOs and other local organisations to reach the poor and female livestock producers in the country, but very few donors came forward with financial assistance.

Livestock in Bangladesh
The traditional role of livestock
Livestock are traditionally an important part of the integrated farming system in Bangladesh. Cattle and buffaloes provide 90 per cent of the traction power for tillage and rural transport, 10 per cent of the fertiliser and 25 per cent of fuel. They also contribute to 7 per cent of the export earnings. Livestock furthermore provide approximately 11 per cent of the human requirement for protein (BBS, 2002) and function as a critical cash reserve and a reliable flow of cash for many marginal or landless farmers, who either grow crops or sell labour for subsistence living. The contribution of livestock to the GDP is 3.96 per cent. However, when the indirect benefits of draught power and manure for fuel and fertiliser are added to this, the contributions of the livestock sector double.
Table 1: Importance of livestock as livelihood Use of livestock Animal (food) product Dung Draft power Hides (Dickey, 1985.) Percentage 57% 27.7% 13.1% 2.7%

Though livestock rearing is often a supplementary source of livelihood, it has reasonable potential for becoming an attractive opportunity, if appropriate institutional and economic support is available to the poor households in terms of the problems and constraints they face. Livestock rearing leads to natural asset creation, which multiplies over time and support livelihood and quality of life. For example, backyard poultry do not only supplement the cash income of women, they also add to the nutrition level of the household, and livestock investment in the form of a cow can easily lead to a pathway out of poverty (IFAD, 2002).

Livestock production systems

The livestock population
The livestock population of Bangladesh consists of 26.54 million heads of cattle, 0.85 million buffaloes, 15.35 million goats, 5.6 million sheep, 128.4 million poultry and 13.33 million ducks (BBS, 1995). The ownership pattern of livestock and poultry (see table 2) indicates that more than 87.0 per cent of the rural households, which belong to landless, marginal or smallholder groups, rear livestock and poultry. The population density of large ruminants (cattle/buffaloes), small ruminants (goats/sheep) and poultry (fowls/ducks) among these groups are around 0.9, 0.8 and 5.6 respectively. For medium and large households, which constitute 12.6 per cent, the densities of large ruminants, small ruminants and poultry are 3.3, 1.6 and 11.7 respectively. Landless to smallholder households possess 64.9 per cent of the large ruminants, 78 per cent of the small ruminants and 76.7 per cent of the poultry. The remaining 35 per cent large ruminants, 22 per cent small ruminants and 22.3 per cent poultry are owned by medium to large farm households. Landless farmers possess 9.75 per cent of the large ruminants (mostly cattle), 22 per cent of the small ruminants (mostly goats) and 21 per cent of the poultry. 9

Table 2. Possession of Livestock and Poultry by Household Category

Household Category Total HH No. (0000) Landless Marginal Small 785 (35.4%) 926 (41.8%) 225 (10.2%) Cattle/ Buffalo No. (0000) 256 (9.3%) 980 468 0.3 1.1 2.1 No./HH Goat/ Sheep No. (0000) 456 (22%) 895 284 Sub -total 1936 (87.4%) Medium Large Sub total Total (BBS, 1995) 247 (11.1%) 32 (1.5%) 279(12.6%) 2215 746 175 921(35%) 2625 3.0 5.5 3.3 1.2 385 75 460 (22%) 2095 1.6 2.3 1.6 0.9 1131 250 1381 4720 4.58 7.81 4.95 2.13 1704 (64.9%) 0.9 1635 (78%) 0.8 3339 1.73 0.6 1.0 1.3 No./HH Total Livestock No. (0000) 712 1875 752 Total Unit per HH 0.91 2.02 3.42 3051(21 %) 5885 1975 10911(76.7 %) 2717 546 3263(23.3%) 14174 11.0 17.1 11.7 17.3 5.6 3.9 6.4 8.8 Poultry No. (0000) No./HH

Most rural households rear a combination of livestock species (Mian, 1996). Poor rural households keep a small number of livestock, in contrast to larger herds of commercial and more specialised operations see table 3.
Table 3 Combination of Livestock Types / Combination of Livestock Cattle only Buffaloes only Cattle + buffaloes Sheep and goats Bovines and ovine Poultry only Bovine only Bovine, ovine and poultry (Mian, 1996) Percentage 7.56 0.35 0.18 2.46 2.18 27.05 27.05 23.03

Livestock species and their productivity

Large ruminants Apart from 3.0 million high yielding cows, which on average produce 6.0 litres/day, most cows are local Deshi cows. Virtually all cattle in Bangladesh are Bos Indicus (Zebu), which are genetically small in size (180kg), slow-growing and poor milk producers. They have low yields (1.5-2.5 litres/day), short lactation periods (on average 180 days) and long calving interval on average 2.5 years). About 50 per cent of the cattle population are female of which two-thirds are milk cows. Marginal and smallholder farmers own these to produce milk and offspring. Occasionally they are used as draft animals. The animals are usually underfed and overworked, infested with parasites, weak and generally of poor quality both as working animals and as milk and meat producers. The mortality rate is very high. It is estimated at 20% during the first year and about 10% per year for mature animals. The condition of crossbred cattle is more precarious, especially the condition of calves, whose mortality during the first year is much higher than the one of the local calves. It has been reported that some 20-25% of the cattle and buffalo populations are incapable of any productive function because of their extremely poor state of health and nutrition.

10

A small quantity of the milk is used for home consumption and the rest is sold in the market at an average price of Tk 10 per litre. The cash is used to procure cattle feed, acquire veterinary coverage and as savings. The profit is insignificant but the income from the sale of grown-up offspring is highly useful for sustenance of livelihood and for meeting emergency needs. Manure is a fuel asset (70 per cent of smallholders use dung sticks as fuel) and a fertiliser asset as it is used to increase the production of crops, vegetables and fish. Most smallholder farms have adopted the technique of preparing compost manure; a considerable number of farmers, who have 3-5 cattle, have introduced a bio-digester in order to use gas for cooking and slurry for fish production. The profit of rearing a local milk cow is approximately Tk 2,500 per year exclusive the value of the calf. A crossbred milk cow gives a profit of Tk 5,000 per year but it is connected with a serious risk of reproductive problems and high calf mortality. Farmers always hesitate to run the risk of rearing crossbred female calves to maturity. Crossbred cows (50% Friesian x 50% local) have during recent years developed problems such as stiff gait, blindness and sudden milk yield decline, which may partly be due to appearance of recessive traits and partly to results of inadequate nutrition and management. Problems like these often result in a lower performance level than that of local cattle. So continuous introduction of temperate breeds such as Friesian and Jersey to poor farmers in tropical countries like Bangladesh is found to be inappropriate, especially under conditions, where acute shortages of feed and fodder frequently occur, the incidence of diseases are high and farmers lack experience in rearing these breeds (Groenwold, et al. 1983). Fattening of cattle has during the recent decade become a lucrative enterprise in many rural areas. It is estimated that around 250.000 cattle, mostly local male cattle of 2.5-3.0 years , are fattened for 120-180 days; around 50 per cent of these are sold at the Eid festival. These animals are fattened on diets, which consists of urea-treated straw, molasses, grass and other crop-residues. By fattening the cattle farmers earn about 40 per cent more than they would normally do, and during the festival market the normal price may be increased by up to 100 per cent. Buffaloes are reared mostly for draft purpose except in the southern char-lands. In these areas buffaloes are reared for production of milk and milk by-products. They are herded and rarely compete with cattle for feed resources because they utilise more fibrous crop residue. Their performance on a straw-based diet is substantially better than cattle. Native buffaloes are generally small in size and the average weight of a female is about 350-400 kg and 400-450 kg of a male. On average a local buffalo cow produces 600-900 kg milk per lactation. In the charlands or flood-prone areas the communication network is poor and the smallholders situated here consider buffalo rearing a more profitable and sustainable business than cattle rearing. Goats concentrate in dry regions Goats are concentrated in dry regions, particularly in the northern and western districts of the country. Moreover, they are reared by rural households and mostly by women for cash income. They feed purely by scavenging e.g. browsing on pastures and roadside grasses. The Black Bengal goat is the predominant breed and is prolific with an average kidding rate of 280 kids per 100 adult female goat per year but typically they produce small quantities of milk. Other breeds are Beetles, Barberi and Jamunapari. The milk is sold for cash income. Goats utilise a range of herbs, shrubs and tree leaves and therefore they do not compete with cattle for feed resources. The economic profit of goat rearing is derived from sale of milk and growing of kids and amounts to approximately Tk 1000 annually per female goat.

11

Sheep concentration areas Sheep are concentrated mainly in the northern and southern regions of the country. However, smaller populations are found all over the country. In the south they are kept mainly in the lowlying areas, where their ability to survive under wet conditions gives them certain advantages over goats. Even though their economic value is lower than goats, they are kept for their meat and wool. The mature weight is about 10-16 kg for ewes and 15-20 kg for rams. Poultry mainly reared by women About 90 recent of the rural households rear poultry. The ownership is normally in the hands of women. Local Deshi poultry breeds are predominant with a maximum flock size of around 20. Poultry are reared on a scavenging system; feed is made up of kitchen waste, homestead picking, insects and crop residues. The productivity is low (30-40 eggs/year) and the chick survival rate is also very low (mortality rate 15-20%) due to predation and diseases. The housing requirements are insignificant and most poultry are reared in underground spaces in the dwelling houses of poor farmers. These birds are reared mostly to maintain a flow of cash and occasionally to provide the poultry keeper and his/her family with eggs and meat. More than 80% of the chickens are native breeds. They are fully-scavenging birds by nature and are raised with little or no inputs and their productivity is low and irregular. They are small in size (1kg live weight). In most areas the number of native chickens is in balance with the overall feed supply. Poultry diseases are rampant. Predators and feed deficiencies make the mortality rates very high, particularly for the young birds. Scavenging indigenous chickens are an important source of meat and eggs in the country and also a reliable source of income for rural women and children. Hens are raised to obtain eggs and chicks and cocks for breeding and meat. A study on the profitability of poultry farming under scavenging conditions carried out by BLRI in 1993-94 showed that the net annual income from poultry per farm was Tk. 1074 and the benefit-cost ratio was 2.01:1. Poultry farming was found to be an important source of cash income for poor families and rural women in particular. However, a rapidly developing semi-intensive poultry sector is based in the villages, which augments scavenged food with small amounts of high protein concentrates (30%). The production system is promoted by NGOs through credit packages and in 2001 it had reached about 16.0 million families. The number of participating families has increased by 20,000 per year. The promotion is based on the semi-scavenging poultry model, which is an integrated system with the purpose of providing supplies and services for the establishment of a smallscale poultry sector (Eusuf and Associates, 1997). Bangladesh is well suited for ducks The climatic and environmental conditions of Bangladesh are very good for duck habitation, and the innumerable water bodies and marshy riversides, beels and haors (vast water bodies in certain areas) are very favourable for duck production. Ducks are reared mostly in natural resource-based low-lying areas purely on scavenging system; their food consists of snails, crop residues and small fishes. Their productivity is a little better than the poultry productivity (50-60 egg/year) and the flock size varies between 20 and 500. Duck eggs and meat are also consumed occasionally but mostly sold in the market to receive cash income. A survey on duck production conducted jointly in 1994 by the BLRI and DLS showed that the benefit-cost ratio of duck production was 3:1, which is higher than that of many other activities in agriculture (Mian, 1996). Non-available feed resources limit livestock production In Bangladesh about 84% of the total agricultural area is being used for cereal production. Rice is by far the most important crop and its by-products - straw and bran - contribute about 90% of 12

the feed energy available to ruminants. It is reckoned that more than 30 - 60 per cent of the straw is composted in the field or used as fuel or building materials. This means that the total available amount of straw is reduced to between 10 and 20 million tons. During the wet season (July to August) 7.7 million tons Aus and Boro paddy are produced and much of the straw cannot be dried (ADB, 1997). In Bangladesh each head of cattle needs 2 kg rice straw and 8 kg green grass per day. As such there is a production deficit of more than 0.17 million tons rice straw and 57.44 million tons green grass. The availability of green grass is only 0.064 million ton whereas each head of cattle needs 57.50 million tons annually. Thus the shortage amounts to about 57.436 million tons i.e. 99.88% per year. This deficiency has only been estimated for roughage. It is estimated that 1.9 thousand tons grain are available for livestock feeding, which contribute to 15.7% of the total amount of concentrate, which provides 1% protein and 13% energy. Traditional feed resources for poultry, especially rural poultry, consist of scattered grains from threshing, left-over grains, pulses, broken rice, kitchen waste, green grasses, insects, worms, boiled rice left-over, etc. Scavenging diets contain around 85% dry matter and 9.3% crude protein only. The available concentrates in Bangladesh consist of bran (from rice, wheat and pulses), oil cakes, fish meal and molasses. Together they contribute 6.8% of the total feed dry matter available for ruminants. The available feed can satisfy approximately 65% of ruminants and 30% of poultry under normal conditions. If concentrate feed is added the deficiency will amount to about 90 million tons. It is thus estimated that: Only 44, 26 and 20 per cent of dry matter, protein and energy requirements respectively are met by the available feed resources in the country (Tareque, 1991). Different species utilise different feed resources Cattle and buffaloes depend largely on crop residues and other biomasses gathered such as roadside grass, grass from pasture, weeds or wild plants on fallow land. Crop residues accounts for approximately 50 per cent of ruminants total annual consumption. Sheep and goats are mostly dependent on scavenging supplemented by concentrated feed and at other times tree foliages. They have a wide range of plants to choose from, including shrubs and tree leaves, and can also utilise grass and crop residues. The value of roadside grass and scavenged feed of ruminants varies with the source of fodder and species. The small ruminant is a highly effective selector of feed and will probably always gain a balanced nutrition from mixed grazing. Goats and buffaloes are able to degrade secondary plant compounds in their liver and can therefore utilise a number of herbs and tree leaves which are not used by cattle. This is the major reason why goats are normally in a better condition than cattle. Their selective feeding behaviour and broader feed base allow them a better feed. However, the feed intake quantity from scavenging is often constrained by the need to house animals at night, which reduces the grazing time to below 10 hours/day. More than 40 varieties of shrub and tree foliages that are fed to ruminants are identified in Bangladesh. Of the more commonly fed foliages the crude protein content is between 15-25 per cent and the digestibility is often above 60 per cent and they contain considerable mineral components. The quantities of these types of fodder are uncertain but substantial. In general, they are fed as supplements to other types of forage given to goats and usually they account for less than 20 per cent of the total diet. When animals are allowed to graze pastures which 13

contain these types of forage they tend to consume 10-20 per cent of their total dry matter intake as foliage.

Financing livestock production

Poor farmers recognise credit services as a precondition for the establishment of livestock production. Formal Financial Institutions (FFIs) and Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) and Rural Money Lenders provide credit for livestock activities. Around 15 commercial and specialised banks and two Co-operative Banks belonging to FFIs lend money to small-scale livestock rearers. The interest rate varies between 14% and16 %. Loan disbursement by these FFIs involves a cumbersome and un-transparent process, where the borrower needs to produce collaterals and pay bribes to middlemen and bank officials. Thus the poor farmers have little access to these FFIs. MFIs, mostly NGOs, provide credit to small-holder farmers through village group organisations so that they can purchase milk cows, fattening cattle, draft cattle, goats, poultry, ducks, etc. A flat interest rate of 15% is used by most MFIs. The effective interest rate, however, reaches 30 to 33% according to the mode of repayment. For example a chick rearer in the PLDP area who receives Tk 11000 must pay back Tk 14300 in 52 weekly instalments, Tk 275 per installment. Only the Proshika and Grameen Banks have declining interest rates but their interest rates start at 20%. A few large NGOs like BRAC, Proshika, Swaniorbor Bangladesh, RDRS, and GMF provide some technical backup services in connection with livestock activities. It is estimated that around 16.0 million poor smallholder farmers are beneficiaries under core livestock development activities of NGOs. About 21.0 per cent (Tk. 16.6 billion) of the credit disbursed by the NGOs until 2000 were given to livestock rearers. The loan ceiling ranges between Tk. 2000 to Tk. 2400 (World Bank Report 24299 BD 2002) and is for some poultry packages such as Key Rearer perceived as low. The absence of grace periods, subsidiary loans in case of losses caused by natural calamities or other unknown factors and of matching loans are perceived as the major weaknesses of NGO micro-credits. Poor farmers do not consider the interest rate (15%) as high. Instead they acknowledge the easy accessibility of the loan. This is the reason why the loan recovery is more than 90 per cent. Moreover, since credit is provided with skill development training and technical follow-up services, poor farmers consider it as a dependable source for improving their livelihood.

Marketing of livestock produce

Live animals, especially ruminants reared by poor farmers, are usually sold in the weekly upazila markets by male members of the households. The farmers receive 50 per cent of the final consumer price. Likewise live birds, fowls and ducks are either sold in the local biweekly markets or collected by middlemen/traders. Usually the traders gain 30-40 per cent by transporting the birds to the city markets. Milk and eggs are usually sold in the daily village market, where they are sold directly to the rural consumers. Where transport facilities are good, traders usually collect these items either from the village market or directly from the farmers house. Nevertheless, the price remains the same; farmers receive Tk. 2/egg and Tk. 6-8/litre of milk. In areas with cooperative or community milk collection facilities farmers receive Tk. 10-Tk14/litre of milk depending on the fat percentage.

14

Gender Roles in Livestock Production

Ownership of Livestock
While land ownership is entirely in the hands of men, livestock are more often owned by women. Women mainly rear cows, goats and poultry to make an additional income. Livestock ownership is higher among women in male-headed households. 77.4 per cent of the married women own poultry, ducks and pigeons; 40.7 per cent own a cow; and 27.3 per cent own goats and sheep. Sometimes unmarried women also keep poultry and ducks. Land scarcity and landlessness does not stop women from rearing poultry and livestock but the existence of a homestead is another important factor in determining whether women own livestock and poultry. 83.3 per cent of female-headed households and 85.7 per cent of married women with a homestead own livestock and poultry. Women without a homestead (ultra hardcore poor) primarily own poultry, ducks, and pigeons, and only half as many of them own a cow as women with a homestead. IFAD (2002) brings forward some factors that makes livestock keeping less attractive to poor women: Lack of capital, inability to afford large investments and to repay loans for livestock, high mortality rate, busyness during particular seasons and lack of time to attend livestock.

Division of Labour According to Gender

Livestock keeping is a combined family involvement and proves again the requirement of family labour as an essential component. It is, in fact, difficult to separate each family members contribution in a mixed farming system. To keep livestock involves cleaning, feeding, and tending livestock. The keeping of livestock is most demanding in connection with cattle. It includes cleaning of the cow shed, feeding, bathing, grazing, etc. The tending of goats and sheep only involves cleaning and grazing, while the tending of poultry only involves cleaning. However, women and small children collect snails, which they clean and feed to the ducks. Female members of poor families usually clean the area where the livestock are kept. Cleaning is carried out twice a day and the litter is thrown into a pit in a corner of the homestead and it is later on used as fertiliser. Feeding cows, bullocks and buffaloes is hard work and hence it is most often done by the male members of the family, e.g. grown-up sons (over 12 years) or the husband. It involves giving drinking water and feeding a mixture of bran, molasses, oil cakes in water, paddy straw, etc to the cows. However, the female members of the family carry out around 25 per cent of the work, e.g. milking and feeding. Boys and young men normally take the large animals for grazing. Young girls below 12 years and women over 40 years tether goats and calves in the fields. The schoolchildren of the poor families look after the cattle and goats after they come back from the school. Poultry rearing is 100 per cent carried out by the female members of the family.

Gender and decisions concerning livestock

The decision-making process normally corresponds to the labour participation. Since women are fully responsible for the labour involved with poultry rearing, they are mainly responsible for making decisions concerning the sale of birds or eggs and they also benefit from the income. It is the same with goats, which women mostly rear. While women only contribute around 25 per

15

cent of the labour involved with tending large ruminants, men make the decisions regarding these. It is possible for women to sell poultry and other items from the house itself, send children to sell milk or carry items to the local market. Hence the proceeds of the sale of poultry produce and vegetables from the homestead garden are generally in the hands of women, whereas the money from the sale of a cow or goat falls into the hands of men. The income of women contributes to the welfare of the family, as women make decisions on and are capable of purchasing food by means of their own resources. An UNICEF study showed significant improvement of the growth of children, which was related directly to the mother's income. As regards decisions on micro-credit it is the men who make decisions regarding the contraction of loans and who take responsibility for the repayment though it is generally the women who obtain the loan,. The work to be done by women is generally decided on in a joint discussion. The women are of the opinion that if both men and women have income, the family expenses are better managed.

Gender roles and labour migration

As a result of men migrating in search of work, the workload of women increases, especially in households with cows. However, in connection with other types of livestock such as chickens, ducks and goats, for which women are solely responsible, the migration of men does not affect women much. The same is true in connection with the seasonal workload, which also rises for women. The common period of migration is from November to May, when the livestock disease burden is highest. Providing medicine and veterinary support for livestock in the absence of mens support, adds to womens workload. Another related issue is, whether the absence of men empowers the women. When men migrate, the women make the day-to-day decisions, though they make no major decisions. Cash sent by the men to their family, contributes to the womens raising of backyard poultry. However, women from the moderate poor group often use this remitted cash to, in consultation with their men, buy cows or lease land for shared cropping.

Gender Aspects of Technology

The use of tractor has on many farms replaced the use of bullocks and reduced the job opportunities for both women and men. This has affected women more than men, because men can migrate for employment, while women are left without no job opportunities. The ultrapoor women have been worst affected, because an important source of their livelihood relates to shared harvesting.

16

Livestock Service Delivery System

Livestock services are delivered to the farmers in Bangladesh by public sector organisations like the Directorate of Livestock Services (DLS) and Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute (BLRI), a number of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Cooperative Societies and private organisations such as poultry hatcheries, pharmaceutical companies and others traders.

Public sector services

DLS under the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock (MOFL) is the apex body, which implements and coordinates all livestock services activities in the country. DLS also has the mandate to ensure production and delivery of livestock inputs such as breeding materials, fodder genetic materials, vaccines, diagnosis and treatment of animals/birds, strict obedience of quarantine laws and effective disease control.

Breeding services
Cattle breed improvement services of DLS are executed through production of breeding bulls, crossbred heifers and semen on 6 (six) cattle breeding farms. Artificial Insemination (AI) mostly by using frozen semen is carried out by means of 23 AI centres, 490 AI sub-centres and 550 AI points at union council level. An amount of Tk. 30 is fixed as AI charge but Tk. 100 is charged from farmers for each frozen semen insemination. Crossbred heifers of local x Friesian and Local x Sahiwal are also distributed among farmers at subsidised rates. Buck production for goat development is pursued through 5 goat farms. Bucks of Black Bengal are made available to rural integrated farmers. Moreover, poultry development activities are pursued through 26 DLS-owned poultry farms and 7 chick-rearing units. Finally DLS runs two duck farms for duck breed improvement activities. The Day Old Chicks (DOCs) and fertile eggs are distributed among the farmers through NGOs and directly to small-scale poultry farmers at subsidised rates.

Fodder technology
DLS fodder extension activities are pursued by means of its fodder nurseries at 12 dairy, goat and buffalo farms, 23 AI compounds and 464 Upazila Veterinary Hospital compounds. Small dairy entrepreneurs and well-to-do farmers procure most of the fodder genetic materials at a very nominal price. Furthermore DLS maintain 3 feed mills with an annual production of 100 million tonnes concentrate feed to be distributed at cost value to interested farmers (DLS 1998).

Training
Five training Institutes of DLS are primarily used for imparting basic knowledge or up-dating training of its auxiliary staff and rarely for training of farmers. Whereas the UVHs provide farmer training, which is organised by local government institutions and NGOs. DLS itself provides 3 days of training on different types of package rearing and so far it has trained 100,000 voluntary rural workers, but there has never been any follow-up of their activities. The trainees are often selected by local political elites and it has not been possible to trace them and evaluate the achievements of the training. However, the farmers trained under NGO sponsorship do maintain liaison with NGOs through the follow-up activities.

17

Animal health services

Animal health protection and treatment is the most voluminous component of DLSs service delivery system and is executed through a network of 9 Regional diagnostic laboratories, 17 district diagnostic laboratories, one Veterinary Vaccine Production Laboratory (VVPL) and 464 Upazila Veterinary Hospitals (UVH). DLS diagnostic laboratories are equipped with sophisticated equipment, but the activities are limited to examination of a few blood, sera and faecal samples and post-mortem examinations of birds belonging to private farmers. Most initial diagnostic activities are accomplished in the Upazila Veterinary Hospitals. Vaccines The VVPL produces around 25 million doses of vaccines against infectious diseases like Anthrax, Haemorrhagic Septicaemia, Black Quarter, Foot and Mouth Diseases of ruminants as well as Newcastle Disease (Ranikhet), Fowl Cholera, Fowl Pox and Duck Plague of poultry. , This production can meet the demands for Newcastle Disease vaccines but it cannot meet the demands for the other the other vaccines. The total vaccine production and supply can only supply 10.0 per cent of the required vaccines. About 80 per cent of the vaccines for ruminants are distributed by means of DLS own staff, Veterinary Field Assistants (VFA), whereas 80 per cent of the poultry vaccines are distributed at village level through poultry workers of NGOs in the SLDP/PLDP project area. These services are not available in non-project areas. All the vaccines are heavily subsidised by around 40 per cent, but vaccination fees are charged from livestock owners. Services at farmer level The Upazila Veterinary Hospitals (UVH) functions as nucleus of DLS activities at grass root level. The treatment of livestock is carried out at both UVH and farm houses by competent veterinary surgeons. Around 40 sick animals are attended daily in the UVH and around 10 are attended at the farmhouses. Each of these UVHs are staffed with one Upazila Livestock Officer, one Veterinary Surgeon, one Compounder and 3-5 Veterinary Field Assistants (VFA). However, the volume of the work and the number of animals/birds, which must be attended to 150000 for each veterinary surgeon, is clearly beyond the humane capacity of qualified veterinary surgeons. Moreover, DLS service delivery network hardly facilitates services to be delivered beyond 10 km from the upazilla. DLS can by using its services network and limited field staff provide effective preventive services to only 10 per cent of the ruminants and treatments to around 13 per cent of the ruminants belonging to all category stakeholders. Thus service delivery at grass root level is inadequate, ineffective and infrequent. The people who are most deprived of these services are the poor, and those who live in remote areas. Despite an allocation of around TK 50.0 million, which were intended for free distribution of medicines and de-worming drugs to poor farmers, disease diagnosis and treatments of ruminant carried out by DLS staff are not cost free. Poultry Workers (PWs), which are trained by NGOs, mostly carry out treatment of poultry with a nominal profit. Around 1800 veterinary surgeons, 600 Animal Husbandry Officers and 6000 Veterinary Field Assistants are employed by DLS and hence paid by DLS revenue budget of for implementing its service delivery network. Around Tk. 800 million are spend on this annually, and another Tk. 200 million are spend on subsidised production of inputs. The supply of vaccines and medicines account for 69 per cent of the total subsidy, whereas dairy cattle, semen and poultry constitute 5 per cent, 14 per cent and 12 per cent respectively of the subsidy. (DLS, 1998). The actual beneficiaries of DLS inputs and service deliveries are mostly well-to-do farmers and

18

social elites. Due to their status, power and economic strength, they use almost all the subsidised inputs. Technology generation Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute (BLRI) at Savar in Bangladesh is the other public sector organisation which has a mandated to generate and promote low-cost technologies for improving livestock production. It receives adequate funds (around Tk. 200 million annually), but it is poorly staffed and the motivation and commitment of the staff is low. Consequently, since establishment in 1985, it has failed to generate/adopt appropriate technologies for the rural poor. BLRI follows a hierarchical procedure for problem identification and has as such has failed to evolve any viable and effective models to enhance the productivity of livestock or to control highly morbid diseases. Some other public sector organisations also provide or facilitate delivery of livestock services to farmers. These are: Palli Karma Shahayak Foundation (PKSF) was established in 1990 as an autonomous and non-profit organisation with an overall mandate to helping the poor and asset-less to gain access to resources for their productive self-employment and to encourage them to undertake income-generating activities (IGA). PKSF has the authority to provide credit to both government and non-government organisations and to assist in strengthening these organisations. PKSFs current loan portfolio covers over 600 NGOs as loan disbursement agencies. It acts as a lender vendor but is not involved in technical activities as regards production, processing and marketing. It has its a distinct regulatory focus, and experience within the management of micro-finance. Bangladesh Rural Development Board (BRDB) is a public sector organisation, which is involved in organising the rural poor. It has nation-wide coverage of rural development practitioners. BRDB has implemented many successful poverty alleviation projects and has successful experience within micro-credit, participatory approach and multifaceted projects. The motivation is hardly visible these days and is slow to change like most government organisations. Bangladesh Milk Producers Cooperative Union Limited (MILKVITA) was established in 1973 and proved to be a successful farmers co-operative involved in daily development. Milkvita has much experience of adjusting rural poor to modern dairy husbandry practices. It is active mostly in the Rajshahi division and is now owned by 565 cooperative societies with about 65000 members in 11 field locations in 10 milk shed areas. However, the activities are gradually spreading to other parts of the country. Milkvita has milk production, processing and marketing logistics and supports only its co-operative members. Milk Vita is estimated to be a well-motivated private sector company, which is technically competent. Department of Youth under the Ministry of Youth has 47 Training Centres, which offers 3month Livestock and Poultry training courses to unemployed youths. Around 7,500 male and female youths are trained annually and they either establish livestock farms by taking loans from scheduled banks/NGOs or become employed by NGOs or other organisations.

Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs)

Around 20 national and 150 local NGOs are engaged in delivering livestock services to farmers. The major services are social mobilisation e.g. group formation, skill development training in connection with livestock and poultry rearing, micro-credit, disease protection and 19

some output services. The Go/DLS/NGO relationship creates a positive environment in offering the best skill development training and ensuring effective technical back up services. DLS focuses its activities on the wellfare of livestock and NGOs target beneficiaries to improve their livelihood. NGOs have developed strong service delivery networks at grass root level and are capable of reaching the poor in the remote areas The estimated number of Veterinary surgeons, Animal Husbandry Officers and Field Assistants involved in this sector is 250, whereas the number of Poultry Workers amounts to approximately 50000. One Programme Assistant is assigned to attend to around 250 beneficiaries as regards social mobilisation, credit operation and technology support services. It is estimated that around 16 million rural poor receive the services of the NGOs. Most NGOs rely on DLS for input supplies. About 80 per cent of the DOCs produced by DLS are distributed between their beneficiaries by NGOs. However, during recent years NGOs such as BRAC and Proshika have started producing limited quantities of DOCs and concentrate feed for their beneficiaries. These two NGOs have also introduced artificial insemination with frozen semen, but this service is still limited. Most NGOs organise skill development training for beneficiaries at their area offices, which the farmers find rather inconvenient in respect of their day-to-day household obligations and the distance they are to cover. The beneficiaries consider the village centres the best options for receiving such training. Some NGOs such as BRAC, Proshika RDRS and Swanirbhor Bangladesh have core Master Trainers with technical qualification, which qualify them to offer effective technical skill development training to their field staff. This result in satisfactory technical training of beneficiaries, whereas other NGOs depend on the DLS Upazila officers/veterinary surgeons or farm managers to carry out training. This requires good social, monetary or personal understanding between NGO and DLS personnel (DARUDEC, 2002). The Micro-credits provided by NGOs are highly acknowledged by farmers, as they are regarded as the most essential element for establishing income-generating and selfemployment activities. Micro-credits for rearing poultry, fattening cattle, milk cows, goats, etc. are not provided until the beneficiaries have received training. The duration of the training may vary between three and twenty-one days depending on the trade. NGOs have also developed a cadre of Livestock Field Assistants who provide primary treatment and vaccination to large ruminants, and a cadre of Women Poultry Workers who successfully provide primary treatment and vaccination to poultry and sometimes goats. In this way, NGOs provide technical back up services like diagnosing, delivery of feeds and fodder supply as well as possible marketing of livestock and livestock produce from beneficiaries. The delivery of services to beneficiaries is constrained by the heavy workload of the Programme Assistants (PA) - the grass root-level worker. One PA has to serve at least 250 beneficiaries as regards social mobilisation, credit disbursement and technical services. Normally, a PA spends 60.0 per cent of his daily working hours in credit operations, 20.0 per cent on social mobilisation or motivational work and 20.0 per cent on technical services. Since most PAs are technically weak and the interaction time allocated to the beneficiary is very limited, technical services provided by most NGOs to beneficiaries are poor in terms of both quality and quantity. Another weakness of the NGOs is that most of its staff do not have technical graduates (graduates in Veterinary Science or Animal Husbandry). This fact seriously reduces their 20

capabilities to operate the livestock packages. Except from NGOs like BRAC, GMF Proshika and RDRS, they all rely on general science graduates with some orientation and follow up trainings to implement projects. But the GMF NGO, which recruited Veterinary Science graduates such as livestock officers and trained Veterinary Field Assistants (VFA) as auxiliary staff succeeded in ensuring an effective technical back up services (CLDDP, 2002). None of the NGOs except from GMF and BRAC has established output service networks by which livestock and livestock products of beneficiaries are marketed. However, GMF has established a Community Dairy Plant for the processing and marketing of milk (CLDDP, 2002).

The private sector

Around 120 private sector poultry farms and hatcheries produce hybrid day old chicks, broilers and concentrate feed usually to support small-scale commercial poultry farms located in the urban and peri-urban areas. There are about 25 pharmaceutical companies in Bangladesh. They have expanded their market by 15-20 per cent annually and the quality of vaccines is found to be effective compared to similar vaccines provided by DLS. They either manufacture or import livestock drugs, vaccines, sera, premix and vitamins and the customers are mostly small-scale commercial livestock entrepreneurs and some smallholder farmers. These firms provide farmers in the country with drugs, vitamins and feed pre-mixes within almost all livestock categories . The majority of the products are sold directly to the consumers, only 20 per cent are distributed through DLS. Vaccines against diseases like FMD, Infectious coryza and infectious bursitis (Gumboro) are imported and distributed by the pharmaceutical companies. Different traders such as feed sellers, egg collectors and milk collectors also provide beneficial services to rural livestock farmers. They relieve the farmers of the trouble of transporting his products to the markets by collecting them directly from farm households. Usually these category traders make a profit of about 30-40 per cent of the trade value. It is estimated that each upazila has one feed seller who collects feed ingredients from feed mills/local markets and sell feed-mixes to farmers. Similarly in each upazila there are more than one egg collectors one milk vendor who provide services to the farmers. Private veterinary services are small and do not reach the rural farmers. There are around 30 private veterinary practitioners in the country but they mostly serve pet animals of the social elite in the cities.

Livestock Activities for the poor

Partnership of GOB and NGOs
A GOB and NGO partnership exists in some areas in order to deliver livestock services to the poor farmers and promote small private enterprises for delivery of low-cost services at community level. DLS provides the much-needed inputs such as animal breeding materials, fodder, and support services like diagnosis, treatment and logistic support. The NGOs provides social mobilisation, training and micro-credit facilities. This partnership is prominent where NGOs, especially the smaller ones, are dependent on DLS for inputs and technical back up services. The relationship between bigger NGOs and DLS is much looser. The NGOs targeting of beneficiaries is based on a profit-making attitude, whereas DLS targeting of livestock welfare has often resulted in ineffective pro-poor livestock activities. A number of propoor livestock projects have been initiated in the recent years to strengthen the GOB/NGO collaboration. 21

Poultry programmes International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and DANIDA sponsored the Small Holder Livestock Development Project (SLDP), which started in July 1993 and ended in December 1999. The project was implemented by DLS in collaboration with three national NGOs namely BRAC, Proshika and Swanirbhor Bangladesh. The project covered 80 Thanas in 16 districts of the western part of Bangladesh. The project focussed on poultry development among hard-core poor, landless farmers, which manage less than 0.5 acres of land and/or which depend on the sale of manual labour as their main source of income. Based on the documented positive impact of SLDP on the income-generation, selfemployment and nutrition of the project beneficiaries, a Participatory Livestock Development Project (PLDP) was initiated in 89 upazilas of North central areas of Bangladesh by means of ADB and DANIDA support. The PLDP was initiated in July 1998 and will be completed in June 2003. The project aims at reaching 364.000 poor women who produce poultry. The Mid Term Review in November 2000 indicated that the participating rural poor have benefited from the project and that the poultry production model has been sustained. The Poultry Production Model The programme promotes a semi-scavenging production system and the Poultry Production Model Chain (PPMC) synchronises related poultry development activities as a linked chain of interdependent enterprises. It includes seven packages supported by input supplies such as day old chicks (DOCs), pullets and vaccines from the DLS or other sources. The chain of the7 enterprises is described below: Figure 1: Semi-scavenging Poultry Model

GOB Parent Stock 26 Model Breeders 6 Mini Hatcheries

GOB Day Old Chicks 40 Chick Rearers

3900 Kea Rearers

100 Poultry Workers 10 Feed Sellers 10 Egg Collectors

GOB and Private companies Vaccines and medicines

Community market Eggs

Model Breeder: Small low-cost parent farms with a breeding stock of 54 Fayuomi hens and 6 Rhode Island Red (RIR) cocks, which are received either from the project site or directly from Government Poultry Farms. The Model Breeders produce quality fertile eggs to be sold to the Mini hatcheries. Mini Hatcheries: Small low-cost hatcheries, which are operated by means of solar energy and kerosene. Each hatchery has capacity to hatch 500 chickens or alternatively ducklings per month. The day old chicks are sold to the Chick Rearers. 22

Chick Rearers: Small Rearing Farms, which each have a capacity of 200-300 chickens/batch and 4 batches per year. The Day old chicks (DOCs) are supplied by the Mini Hatcheries or Government farms. The pullets are sold to the Key Rearers when they are 8 weeks old. Key Rearers: Women, who have 5 crossbred layers for the production of table eggs and 4 local hens for brooding chickens for replacement of stock and sale. The hens are kept under semi-scavenging conditionpartly scavenging and partly fed with 30-70% supplementary feed. This group constitutes 95% of the beneficiaries. Poultry Workers: Women, who are trained and equipped by the project to vaccinate poultry against the most common poultry diseases. They receive their inputs (vaccines) from GOBs or private companies. Feed Sellers: the Feed Sellers procure various feed ingredients (including per-mixes), which are available on the local market or supplied by the supporting NGO and they sell compound feed or feed ingredients to the poultry keepers. Egg Sellers: The Egg Sellers buy eggs from the producers and sell them in the market. The egg seller is also expected to be the marketing link between the Model Breeder and the Mini hatcheries. The PLDP programme consists of a micro-credit scheme, which is administered by the NGOs to the livestock keepers, and a component, which organises and trains the livestock keepers within the scheme and provides technical support. Despite the fact that the focus of the programme is on the poultry model, PLDP also provides credit and technical support to other livestock productions like beef fattening, which a small number of women have preferred to engage in. Encouraged by the success of SLDP-I and envisaged success of PLDP, a second Smallholder Livestock Development Project (SLDP-II) has been initiated in 5 southern districts of Bangladesh since September 2001 initially under the assistance of DANIDA . A total of 4,185 poor beneficiaries, especially women have been selected under 15 upazilas with the intent to increase the production, extension and development of poultry at village level The Community Livestock and Dairy Development Project CLDDP was launched by Grameen Mosta Foundation (GMF) in July 1999 and will be completed in June 2004. It is funded by UNDP and the project is targeted at 7,750 asset-less and functionally landless poor (at least 50% women) in 19 Upazila of 7 districts in North-West of Bangladesh. The aim of the programme is to empower the resource poor and disadvantaged people of rural communities by promoting their earnings from livestock and dairy production. The programme provides the beneficiaries with knowledge, skills and microfinance for establishing the production activities. The programme consists of different packages, which the loaners can choose from. These are described in table 4.
Table 4: Loan packages in the CLDDO programme Livestock Milk cow Heifer Goats Poultry Ducks Pigs Fattening cattle Crop Bio digester 6.5 cut doom type bio digester constructed close to the pond Package 1 crossbred milking cow with a calf 1 cross bred 6-8 months pregnant heifer 2 Black Bengal pregnant does with 1st or 2 24 hybrid layer hens of 2-4 months age 24 3-4 months old ducks 2 Local pigs 1 year old crossbred male calf 150-200kg wt.
nd

Loan tk. 24,000 19,000 pregnancy 2,000 7,000 6,400 10,000 3,000 5,000 16,000

23

The MTR in March 2002 accredited the project with potential of success for reducing poverty through an environmentally friendly integration of natural resources supported by micro-credit and marketing. It was also acknowledged that the project has reached landless and asset less poor in particular deprived women of rural households. Second Smallholder Livestock Development Project (SSLDP) In February 2002 the pre-project formulation study of Second Smallholder Livestock Development Project (SSLDP) sponsored by IFAD was conducted in 13 villages of 7 districts of two potential project areas (north-east and south-west) of Bangladesh. The findings of the report revealed some important aspects of livestock and the poor. These are mentioned below: Poor women and men utilise their human capital supported by natural and physical capital to create livelihoods in farming and livestock. All categories of poor (ultra-poor, hardcore poor, moderate poor and neo-poor) and especially the female-headed households are interested in livestock investment. Though it is often a supplementary source of livelihood, it has a reasonable potential to become an attractive main source if appropriate institutional and economic support is available. Owning a milk cow is the dream of most poor as it is regarded as a pathway out of poverty Outside opportunities help the poor to migrate and their families to cope with the vagaries of farming and livestock Poor households, which are not attracted, have problem of space, capital and have low risk-taking ability. The three risk factors of the poor in terms of livestock production are: o o o Shock such as illness and natural disaster Seasonality such as diseases and food security and changing trends in sources of livelihood Not having any homestead

Cow and chicken rearing were scored/ranked as first and second preference of poor women in terms of livelihood, goat rearing, duck rearing, homestead gardening and fish catching have third, fourth, fifth and sixth rank respectively There are local markets for livestock and its products in different villages, where men sell the livestock products and thus earn the cash

DLS-Poverty Alleviation Programme The second phase of 'Poverty Alleviation through Self Employment by Livestock' of DLS was initiated in 2000 345 upazilas. The Programme is supposed to run for five years. It has introduced credit schemes for the establishment of family units of twelve enterprises namely: Milk cow, fattening cattle, goat and poultry (chick rearing, model breeder, mini-hatchery, broiler rearing, layer rearing, duck rearing, feed seller and others). The programme will cover 35.000 beneficiaries and it aims at improving the food security of the poor families and to some extent womens empowerment. The investment costs varies from Tk 2,500 to 15,000 per package. Selected beneficiaries are provided credit with a 5% service charge and revolving capital. The most preferred enterprise is goat rearing followed by cattle fattening and cow rearing. Poultry are the fourth preference of the beneficiaries, which is quite different from many other projects. 24

DLS-Poverty Alleviation through Goat Development The Present Prime Minister of Bangladesh has introduced a special project namely Poverty Alleviation and Goat Development. The programme is being implemented by the Department of Livestock Services (DLS) and is supposed to last for 5 years. The objectives of the project are to: Alleviate poverty through goat rearing and creation of self-employment Ensure improvement of nutritious supply through increased production of meat and milk and Increase the earning of foreign currency through leather exports

The strategy of the Goat Bank Management is to implement three types of goat productions: Goat rearing for ultra-poor / extreme poor families (2-5 goat) Small farmers commercial /semi-intensive farm (20-50 goat) Large commercial farm (more than 100 goats)

Micro-credit, input supply and training will be provided to the beneficiaries. The success or failure of the project is not yet analysed.

Exclusion of the poorest

Even with all these poverty-targeted programmes there are still serious constraints on the poor peoples ability to make use of and benefit from the opportunities of livestock development. The poorest groups in the communities are mostly excluded for several reasons. Some of these are mentioned in the following: Obstructive policies, rules and procedures related to local governance (numbers of VGD cards are inadequate to the number of poor and many of the destitute and/or ultra-poor women are denied to these cards, even if they are fortunate to get a VGD card, it only lasts for 18 months/2 years) Micro-finance institutions and other agencies do not provide loan to one who does not have own house, permanent address or a regular income to repay the loan, They often lack a grace period for repayment of the loan Poor attitude and behaviour of their staff in providing services (rudeness in case of failure of repayment) Cultural/religious practices (In certain areas Hindu religion does not prefer to rear goat/ chicken) Inequities in asset distribution (those who do not have permanent address are not allowed to become group members) gender discrimination, corruption (inappropriate distribution of VGD card) Absence/delay in justice (minority ethnic group are often not interested in loans because of the cumbersome procedures and harsh procedures in repayment schedule Remoteness of area causes more cost getting services and technology

Livestock services need Assessment

In Bangladesh a livestock service need assessment is a top-down process, which is made on the basis of the policy of the country. It does not always correspond to the needs of a specific category e.g. poor, middle class or rich farmers, but it rather conforms to the demands of different stakeholders for achieving growth or development of the sector. Policy makers often collaborate with scientists and extension workers to identify these needs. Poor farmers are therefore not directly involved in this identification of needs. Ignorance of the poor is common 25

because of their illiteracy or reduced perceptibility of the macroeconomics of the country. Conflict exists between the poor farmers and other stakeholders. The objectives and motives of other stakeholders are directed by profit making attitudes, whereas poor farmer interests are directly related to the performance (based on discussion with farmers). Poor farmers perceptions of needs for livestock services are normally attached to access to basic amenities like health, communication, human rights, markets/price and education. The poor farmer never considers his livestock problem in a separate entity but rather in the full context of the agricultural system as well as the wider socio-economic situation. Most project formulations, which intend to serve the poor, are carried out by conventional baseline surveys where the superiors set the questions and criteria on the basis of preconceived ideas. The findings from these processes as regards agro-ecological, cultural and socio-economic endowments and livestock problems are rarely considered. A few projects were recently formulated using RRA/PRA/SLA as per the donors requirement. Although System Learning Approach (SLA) has recently been introduced in Bangladesh, the need assessment in the livestock sector still lacks a holistic approach. Moreover, the above findings indicate that the need identification process does not respond to the actual agro-ecological, cultural and social barriers. They do also not commensurate with poor farmers socio-economic endowments, attitude, technical literacy, market outlet and absorption capacity. For example the delivery of the Poultry Production Model Chain (PPMC) under Participatory Livestock Development Project in low-lying areas of Bangladesh has failed to provide any benefit to the poor. Similarly this project has not created any impact in Hindu dominant poor communities, who rarely consume poultry meet (Impact Assessment of PLDP, PPSU- MOFL / DANIDA, 2002). Many of the pro-poor activities based on rearing cross-bred high yielding milk cows, which were launched under the core Rural Development Programme of some NGOs recorded limited success due to lack of farmers skills and reduced market price of milk. Likewise the goat package has also not been successful due to wide spread occurrence of the serious morbid disease like Pestis Petit Ruminants (PPR). However, PPMC has enhanced self-employment income generating activities among rural poor specially women in many other areas. Likewise Community Livestock and Dairy Development Project (CLDDP) also created enthusiasm among the beneficiaries. According to the CLDDP (2002) the key elements, which contributed to the success, were: Appropriateness of the areas e.g. existence of communication and transport facilities and market facilities Provision of micro-credit Aptitude and awareness of the participating farmers Skill development training supported by strong technical back up services Good governance at the community or farmers group level

Although participatory process was adopted during formulation of the above projects, only CLDDP rigorously followed participatory process of implementation. Both the pro-poor activities were based on integrated farming system and were meticulous in not to interrupt the existing farming system cycle. Poor farmers rely on appropriate low cost technologies, which are compatible with his/her socio-economic endowments and perceptibility. Breeds of animals, which require intensive feeding and health care management practices, are not amenable to them, unless they are supported by rigorous follow up services. Whereas other stakeholders emphasises on high yielding breeds, intensive rearing system created simulated conditions of housing, feeding and, feeding manufactured high protein concentrates. 26

Table 5 describe the different perceptions of the needs for technology and services as viewed by the poor livestock keepers and the policy makers.
Table 5: Technology and services related to livestock production as viewed by the stakeholders Poor livestock keepers Technology needs Breeding technology for increased availability of the local best cattle Low cost balanced concentrate feed prepared with locally available ingredients. Low cost technology for maximum utilisation of crop residues, vegetable Techniques for utilisation of locally available tree leaves, shrubs, grasses and aquatic plants for fodder Simple technique for cultivation of forages through crop rotation and to be grown alongside dams, paths and roads Rearing technique for semiscavenging birds and goats. Techniques for integrated rearing of cattle, buffaloes, goats and sheep using locally available feed resources Service needs Simple health management practices for prevention of harmful disease. Building collective strength and bargaining power Community groups to discus problems, find solutions and take decisions Contact farmers representing a community and capable of performing primary treatment, vaccination and advise on improved livestock health care management practices Producer organisation of marketing, National system of marketing information Access to inputs, training, information and new ideas Practical skill development training organised in the community A better organised AI service with well-trained technicians Easy availability of vaccines and drugs Animal health service with more extensive coverage and better trained people Micro-credit by banks to be made accessible, without collateral and Strengthening of veterinary coverages with deployment of qualified and competent veterinary surgeons Staff Incentives in the form of tax holiday Reduced bank interest and import tax for bank loan for farm establishments Import of feed ingredients, veterinary drugs, vaccines, parent stocks and semen. Congenial atmosphere for national and multinational investment Logistic support and promotion of export oriented livestock industries Promotion of livestock product processing Market access Quality standards being applied by government Cost effective price for livestock and livestock products Training materials for different stakeholders Highly motivated Trainers of Trainees Veterinary services network equipped with high mobility equipments Sophisticated information and data base network Policy makers Techniques for rapid genetic upgrading using high yielding breeding stock Breeding materials such as semen, bulls and heifers for cattle, bucks for high milk producing goats and parent stocks for poultry Introduction of high protein concentrate feeds, if necessary by importing high protein concentrate with reduction of import tax Rapid disease diagnostic techniques and viable disease control models Introduction of high yielding forages

27

grace period More women field workers

Specific technology needs emphasised by the farmers Poor farmers prefer low/no cost technologies or packages, less labour intensive, compatible with socio-economic endowments and consequently do not interfere with the integrated farming. Technology packages like rearing of local cows, fattening of cattle, rearing of BB goats, semi-scavenging poultry, etc are considered sustainable by poor farmers. For example poor farmers prefer local best cattle; cows producing around 4-5 litre/day with 200 days of lactation and a calving interval of 1.5-2.0 years, which are capable of thriving on indigenous forages with a minimum of concentrate supplements. It is observed that the disease susceptibility is far less than that of crossbred cattle. The required labour is less and does not compete with crop production and other income generating activities. Low cost/no cost technology for maximum utilisation of crop residues, vegetable and fruit wastes, seeds and techniques for utilisation of locally available tree leaves, shrubs and grasses and aquatic plants for fodder are also considered appropriate by poor farmers. The rearing techniques for semiscavenging birds, which are found viable, are less labour intensive and less susceptible to diseases and adverse rearing conditions. Techniques for integrated rearing of cattle, buffaloes, goats and sheep by use of locally available feed resources and with reduced mortality are considered compatible with farmers socio-economic endowments. On the other hand, livestock policy makers, extension workers and scientists, emphasise techniques for rapid upgrading of the genetic material, using high-yielding breeding stock of cattle, goats and poultry. They prefer breed genetic materials such as semen, and breeding bulls, and heifers, for cattle, bucks for high milk producing goats and parent stocks for poultry. Moreover, they consider an introduction of high protein concentrate feeds, if necessary, by importing high-protein concentrate with reduced import tax. Furthermore, rapid disease diagnostic techniques and viable disease control models are identified as suitable for livestock development in the country. It is clear that the interests of the poor livestock keepers and other stakeholders within the sector differ tremendously. This proves how important it is that all stakeholders are involved in prioritising and designing livestock development programmes.

28

Impact of Livestock Development

Beneficiaries of the livestock programmes
The programmes undertaken during the FFYP created a positive impact on self- and wage employment in connection with livestock farming, chick rearing, feed selling, goat rearing and other income generating activities through different DLS/NGO-operated package programmes. The credit programmes of various NGOs supported womens involvement in the livestock production around the homestead, using surplus labour and agricultural by-products. The number of beneficiaries involved in the different programmes is estimated at 16.0 million. The number of loans raised within the smallholder livestock sector has grown and satisfactory repayment rates have been achieved (around 90%). The capital needed to start a business is minimal. Led by Grameen Bank, and more recently followed by BRAC, PROSHIKA and other small NGOs an increasing number of the poor, have received loans with the aim of establishing poultry, goat, beef fattening and dairy productions. This type of credit to landless and very poor people has raised their total household incomes by at least 10 per cent per year, has improved the daily rural wages and has created jobs. But the micro-credit extension among poor households is quite low it ranges from 16 to 42 per cent. It is particularly difficult for ultra-poor people of the South-East region of Bangladesh to gain access to micro credits (IFAD, 2002). The basic reasons for this are the conventional selection process and criteria of beneficiary and other exclusionary processes of NGOs and projects. Livestock play an essential role in connection with food security and rural development as part of an integrated farming system, which is tailored to local needs. Livestock not only provide food, they also enable poor landless people, especially women, to enter into the cash economy. In doing so, the livestock production provides increased income stability for the family without disrupting other food producing activities. Impact studies have thus found important improvements of the nutritional situation of the households participating in povertytargeted livestock programmes. The increase in intake of grain and animal produce such as eggs, white as well as red meat intake is estimated between 15 and 20 per cent in beneficiary households. This means that the beneficiaries have actually increased the number of meals from 2 to 3 per day (DARUDEC, 2002). The monthly income of many beneficiaries has also increased by 50% (DARUDEC, 2002). Another important aspect of the role of livestock - especially poultry - in reducing poverty is its impact on poor women. The livestock development has raised the living standards and the status of poor women. Moreover, It has increased womens employment opportunities and childrens access to education as well as health and social services (see box 1).

29

Box 1: Successful Endeavor of a Chick Rearer Amena Begum of village Gagralasker, Jhinaigati was divorced two years ago. She and her two children were suffering as they had no source of income. Her brothers gave her shelter, but Amena did not like to live on the mercy of her brothers and was desperately looking for a self-employment opportunity when Proshika Field workers approached her. She joined the Proshika-sponsored village group, took a small loan to buy DOCs, construct a house and procure utensils. She retained the rest of the money for petty business and monthly repayments. By rearing chicks, Amena Begum saved some money and utilised the it to meet the family needs. Amena is confident that by rearing another 9 batches within 2 year (24 months) she will be able to repay the loan including interests. So Amena expects to become self-reliant by the end of the 3 year. Amena says that the benefit derived from chick rearing is that she is able to meet the livelihood needs and pay the educational expenses of her children. Amena has also used some of the savings to purchase 8 local poultry for sale and consumption of eggs and birds. She also constructed a small thatched house on the homestead land, which she inherited from her father. Amena is confident of her success in sustaining chick rearing and improve her socio-economic condition.
rd

Traditionally, poor women take responsibility for and have access to the income derived from sale of poultry (chickens and ducks), eggs and milk. The immediate and direct impact of the poultry activities has therefore been an increased nutrition levels of poor households, particularly women and children. Moreover, the additional cash income contributes to meeting the needs of women and children, which would otherwise not be met, e.g. education. Thus the poverty reduction impact of livestock interventions is wide, not only in terms of enhanced income generation but also in terms of positive effects on human capital. The livestock development of functionally landless households, with less than 0.5 acres, made significant contributions to the total household income - in many cases over 50 per cent! The emerging evidence indicates that smallholder income-savings and family nutrition are quickly improved by livestock enterprises. Many lenders have turned their homesteads into larger animal operations and the income of a growing number of them has risen above the poverty line. Livestock are thus considered the best opportunity of many rural households for improving the living standards (Mujeri and Sahabuddin, 2001) and stepping out of poverty (see box 2).
Box 2: A pathway out of poverty Shandhya Mahata of village Gothita of upazilla Raiganj is a member of Grameen Matshya and Livestock Foundation (GMF). She has also been a member of PLDP since December 2000. She took a loan of Tk. 17,000. With some of this money, Tk. 14,700, she purchased a cow and a calf . Initially the repayment was at Tk. 300 every fortnight. The schedule of repayment was 20% during the first year and 40% during each successive year. Initially she could sell 44.5 litres of milk per day at a rate of Tk. 810 per litres. At present the price has increased to Tk. 13 per litre, but the milk production amount has been reduced to 3.5-4 litres a day. It costs about Tk. 25-30 per day to feed the cow and hence her net income is Tk. 300350 from which she can barely save any money. However, her assets have increased besides the mother cow she now has one heifer (2 years) and one calf (less than 1 year). Regular vaccination is being administered as per schedule at CLC (Community Livestock Centre) of GMF. The price of each vaccine is Tk. 2 and Tk. 22 for FMD vaccines. Treatment is free of cost (only medicine costs) at a mobile unit every week. She milks her cow twice (morning and afternoon) per day and takes the milk to the CMCC (Community Milk Collection Centre) for marketing. She clean the cowshed, milk and feed the cows herself, while her husband helps in connection with fodder, feed-meal, bathing, vaccinations and treatment. If all goes well - when her loan is fully repaid after a year and a half - her net asset, the mother cow and at least 4 offspring, which she can either sell or continue to fatten, will be worth around Tk. 40,000.

30

Although GOB institutions like DLS have made little progress in reaching the poor, NGOs have succeeded to a high extent in reaching the functionally poor. They have influenced especially women to break loose of the traditional conservative life and improve their livelihood and production by means of small-scale livestock rearing. Furthermore BRAC - through targeted ultra-poor programmes - Proshika - through small pilot programmes supported by DFID - and other development organisations have recently engaged in projects with ultra/hardcore poor by, which provides special support and/or subsistence to lift them up to a normal creditworthy level. Ethnic minorities are also included in some of these projects.

Impact on the livestock production systems

The introduction of crossbred cows for dairy production has had some negative effects on the integrated farming system. Smallholder farmers have to allocate around 10 hours per day to collect green grass, fetch water, clearing cattle sheds, milking milk and marketing. This interferes with other routine household activities and breaks the farming system production cycles e.g., interdependence cycles. Moreover, crossbred cattle are highly susceptible to diseases and the mortality rate is high, it ranks between 15-30 per cent. In the absence of strong technical backup services the consequences are often that farmers are found to be indebted with heavy loans and are forced either to engage in other trades, to be able to repay their loans, abandon the homestead or sell the movable properties and consequently live in destitution. Fattening cattle have shown positive effects on the sustenance of the integrated farming system. Increased use of crop residues, crop by-products and cow dung as fuel and fertiliser has consolidated the integration of crop livestock and fish production. Similarly the semiscavenging poultry production as a whole is recorded as a positive effect. Beneficiaries spend 3-4 hours per day on the activities and as such other household activities including integrated production are not hampered. However, the Mini Hatchery requires intensive attention to the rotation of eggs (around 500 egg/batch) and the flock size of DOCs often keeps the beneficiary busy for 14-16 hours per day, which consequently interrupts other household and farming activities. Failure to operate the MH, either due to lack of adequate skills or high DOCs mortality, causes many farmers to become heavily indebted and to sell labour for repayment of the loan (DARUDEC, 2002). Key rearing does not interfere with normal household activities and it is accepted as the most friendly integrated farming system package. But its sustainability is attached to accessibility of poultry feed, better egg market prices and access to Model Breeders. Chick Rearing and Model Breeding are also found to have positive effects on the production system, since these provide better economic return without interfering with the integrated farming system production (DARUDEC, 2002, and the case story of box 3 below).
Box 3: The Success Story of a Model Breeder Masuda Begum of Dhansai Village under Jhinaigati Upazila completed her primary education and married a petty trader 13 years ago. Her husband possessed only 38 decimal homestead and a small house with a five-member family. His monthly income was not sufficient to meet the family expenses and to provide the family with three meals per day. Being encouraged by her husband and persuaded by her neighbour, Masuda became a member of the village group sponsored by Proshika in mid 2000. She started paying the membership fee weekly by means of her savings and after six months she was asked by Proshika to choose a poultry package. After discussion with her husband, she preferred

31

to become a Model Breeder. She thus received 3-days of training on Poultry Rearing and a loan, which she spent on constructing the poultry house, purchasing parent stock birds and procuring necessary equipment. She reared the birds for 9 months and made a profit after repaying the loan and interests. This enterprise has changed the livelihood of Masudas family. Masuda lent some money to her husband to scale up his rice trade and spent some money on improving the nutrition and education of their children. She envisages expanding the dwelling house and buying a local calf for fattening. She is confident that she will be self-reliant within 23 years. She is determined to continue as a model breeder and also to keep some local hens, ducks and a calfs for fattening to supplement the family income. Masuda's venture on Model Breeding has improved the nutritional status of the family members. They can afford three meals per day, consume 75 eggs per months compared to one per month in the past. She is furthermore able to meet the education expenses of her children. She has also succeeded in converting the thatched roof of her house to tinned roof. Masuda has also saved some money, which she intends to keep in case of emergency family needs.

The activities of feed and egg sellers have provided rural poor with self-employment and income earnings. The most exalting positive effect is recorded in connection with the Poultry Worker package. The self-employed women have not only enhanced their income, they have also enabled other unemployed women to take up the other poultry packages. All the above-mentioned impacts in terms of self-employment and income generating activities have furthermore increased the awareness of poor rural communities towards empowerment, increased literacy level and consequently they have made these communities more resistant to social injustice. Some negative impacts of the credit schemes are, however, observed. It is found that a considerable number of poor farmers remain indebted to the NGOs due to poor and ineffective technical back up services, absence of market outlets and higher interest rates. According to the farmers, follow-up services and further training could have reduced these types of negative effects (Neela et al.).

Impact on the general farming system

The Governments specific macro-economic policy directives for the sub-sector have encouraged both NGOs and commercial businesses to develop their livestock operations and supporting services. The changed approach has been initiated in order to focus on reaching the poor and female livestock producers in co-operation with NGOs and other local organisations. DLS adopted a more facilitating role to provide support to farmers and other stakeholders in the livestock sector. The approach emphasised greater participation of NGOs in all livestock sector activities. Different motivational and skill enhancement training imparted through smallholder livestock development activities resulted in farmer-improved practices such as: Farmers use poultry litre as fertiliser to increase the production of homestead vegetables and exchange poultry litre for fish from fish producers Compost manure has increased soil fertility and the hygienic disposal of manure has reduced the incidences of diseases, especially parasitism. The fish production has also increased where dung was used as fertiliser Farmers awareness of the meticulous use of crop by-products, vegetable/fruit residues and kitchen waste has increased and strengthened the integrated farm production

32

HIV/AIDS and livestock in Bangladesh

Since HIV first emerged more than 20 years ago, it has spread relentlessly around the globe. Bangladesh has been spared so far, but the sexual and the drug addict behaviour, which gives rise to HIV infection, exists in this country as in most other countries. In 1998, the government set up a surveillance system to detect those kinds of behaviour and to look for HIV and other infections, which can be spread by unprotected sex and unsafe injection. This HIV surveillance system has been praised in many international forums. It is a very active system, which focus on anonymous testing of people within the 'at risk' group. The system reveals a very low level of HIV infection - 248 cases according to Government reports. However, a huge number of cases are unreported, while some are reported only in the private sphere. Moreover, high-risk people with a higher socio-economic status are not being tested, as they are not accessible. The HIV occurrence in Bangladesh is currently low. 1.7% out of 400 clients of a needle exchange programme in Central Bangladesh were tested positive - the highest rate so far - in the latest round of surveillance. In the Northwest Bangladesh, 600 drug addicts were tested anonymously and no positive cases were found. Less than 0.5% of the brothel sex workers of eight sites around the country were infected with HIV. No tests from homosexual men, including male sex workers, dockworkers, truck drivers or rickshaw-pullers were found positive. Only one positive test was found in blood taken from a group of several hundred patients with sexually transmitted diseases. Most of the HIV positive persons keep their identity anonymous, as they are afraid of social stigma and isolation. They lack or have minimum opportunity to continue the previous livelihood and suffer from malnutrition and health problems and they do not receive any support from relatives or the community. A few NGOs are providing counselling, health and other services (IGA). But these are inadequate and inaccessible as they are urban-based and HIV positive people are spread in many rural areas. A PRA/focus group discussion session was conducted with a group of HIV positive people at an NGO. The findings of this session are provided in table 6. At least three out of eleven participants had past experience with poultry and/or other livestock productions, which they would like to take up again as a livelihood but due to a lack of capital they cannot involve themselves in these livelihoods.
Table 6: Profile and Livelihood Preference of HIV positive People Sex M Education Class 10 Skill (past experience) Telephone business, driving F F M M M F F Class 10 None Class 7 Class 7 Class 5 Diploma architect Class 6 Machine embroidery, counselling Sewing (others machine), drawing Cook/chef, cultivation, fish farming Salesman in fast-food shop tailoring Painting, agriculture Architecture, cooking, poultry, sewing Poultry (37 ducks 7 Future livelihood (according to preference) Expansion of existing telephone business, light job orderly Telephone, small-scale business, fish farming Continue sewing independently Continue as chef, fish farming, light job Personal fast-food business Expand existing grocery shop Dairy farm, architectural consulting firm, confectionery Integrated agricultural farm, Opportunity/ Support needed Computer, fax & relevant training Capital, training Machine, training Training and capital for fish farming Capital Capital Capital, training Capital for farm, has plot/

33

hens & 12 pigeons), cattle (10 goats) rearing, homestead garden, fish farming F F F Class 8 Class 3 Bachelor of Arts Poultry, cattle, fish farming Poultry, cattle, tailoring embroidery Block, batik, candle decoration pieces

petty job

land and past experience, no training required

Petty business (phone/ fax), integrated farm Continue poultry and livestock rearing, fish farming Training centre for all HIV positives (handicrafts)

Capital, training for farming only Capital, training, has pond Capital, marketing

34

Conclusions
Livestock production is important for the rural poor in Bangladesh Rearing of domestic animals is a major source of food, cash income and savings for poor rural households in Bangladesh. Poor farmers can diversify their income sources and enhance the family income through livestock production with small land requirements and potentially high returns. The state of poverty has wide implications Livestock production in Bangladesh is deeply integrated with other sub-systems. Some of the important factors, which influence the state of poverty, are: Resource base (land holding - especially homestead and arable land holding) Family size and work force within the family Literacy level or skills of the family members Access to credit Access to livestock/poultry inputs Access to output facilities - markets Access to support services

The above-mentioned factors influence the poverty level, the perception of farmers, their capacity to absorb the technology and consequently their livestock output. Poor households prefer small animals The poor households in Bangladesh have a preference for small animals, since it involves less resources and costs to acquire and manage these animals. Poultry are thus considered the best of the few chances of improving the living standards by many rural households (IFAD, 2002). Poultry are reared inside the homestead under a semi-scavenging system supplemented by crop/household residues. Moreover, women mostly manage the small animals, which gives them the opportunity to contribute to household income and nutrition. Expanding to other types of livestock Along with poultry, which has significant advantages for the poor particularly women due to its low resource and input requirements, the role of other animals (e.g. local cattle and goat) has been important in improving incomes and livelihood. The poor and landless farmers often scale-up from poultry rearing to more resource-demanding activities (e.g. dairy and cattle fattening) as their financial resources and management skills improve due to the support from MFIs. Local cows and goats could be an alternative option to poultry as regards poverty alleviating activities. However, more emphasis would have to be put on improving the skills of beneficiaries as regards rearing and health care management practices, especially vaccination of goats because it has been observed that Pestis des Petit Ruminants (PPR) causes widespread mortality among goats. Dairy cattle production is the number one wish of poor women and obviously it functions as a ' pathway out of poverty '. Landless households gain from micro-credit and training Livestock make significant contributions to the total household income among functionally landless households having less than 0.5 acres. The emerging evidence from NGOs microcredit programmes for livestock development indicates that smallholders (moderate, hard-core poor and neo-poor) income, saving and family nutrition are quickly improved by poultry enterprises. Many borrowers have expanded to activities with larger animal and the income of a growing number of beneficiaries has risen above the poverty line. 35

It appears that there is considerable scope for expansion in the small-scale livestock and poultry productions of landless and smallholder women. Livestock and poultry productions can be considerably increased both in terms of meat, egg and milk production. Moreover, the number of livestock and poultry producers should be increased by 25-30 per cent of all smallholders and landless women with a homestead by providing them with appropriate credit and training regarding livestock and poultry rearing and with strong technical back-up services. Benefit of the Poverty Focussed Livestock Programmes A number of livestock programmes have been implemented in Bangladesh with the aim of poverty alleviation. At present there are 16.0 million beneficiaries of these. Most of the beneficiaries are women who successfully rear poultry, goats and cattle. The monthly income of the beneficiaries is between Tk 1500 and Tk 3000 and the enhanced income has boasted the food intake of the families. The Smallholder Livestock Development Project (SLDP), Participatory Livestock Development Project (PLDP), Community Livestock Dairy Development Project (CLDDP) executed by the linked GOB/NGO and similar other projects based on the rural poultry and other livestock models have created a strong impact on reducing poverty among the beneficiary households by: Generating income and employment Improving food security and nutrition levels especially among children Increasing opportunities for children to attend school Preventing urban migration

There is also evidence of higher capability of the beneficiaries to engage in more productive activities once the basic food and income security is assured. Many beneficiaries have attained sustenance within 3-5 years and some have graduated into better income generating packages. A sizeable number of female beneficiaries have accumulated fixed assets like arable land and many have improved/expanded their dwelling houses by converting thatched houses into tinned roof houses. Special programmes are needed to integrate the ultra-poor However, the ultra-poor have suffered relative negligence in most interventions of GO/NGOs. BRAC, Proshika and other organisations have therefore recently identified the needs of these groups and have initiated suitable projects with special support - asset transfer, food and health programmes. Different donors sponsor these programmes and they provide the ultra and the hard-core poor with more basic support as they aim at making these households credit worthy. However, the PKSF programme for ultra-poor families provides a normal credit programme, which includes skill training and a little more supervision. The Bangladesh Micro-finance and Technical Assistance Project (at inception the name of this project was Second Smallholder Livestock Development Program - SSLDP) supported by IFAD is likewise offered to hard-core poor. This project focuses especially on livestock enterprises and other alternative livelihoods to be implemented by PKSF. Need for more involvement of the poor livestock keepers However, the programmes are clearly top-down driven. The participating livestock keepers are not involved in the design or planning of the programme and they do also not play a role in monitoring the programme. The programmes mostly deliver fixed packages of credits, enterprises and services and hence the livestock keepers have no real choice as to production or service provider. The livestock keepers tend to become dependent on the particular NGO. 36

In order to sustain the programme in future, the livestock keepers must be involved more in the planning and monitoring processes.

The formation of village groups and the empowerment of these groups are identified as a key point in sustaining the activities at village level. Participatory processes for identification of beneficiaries, preference of enterprises, credit-disbursement, skill development and market pricing should be implemented in these groups.

Pro-poor technologies are adopted Despite the high income generating potential, several factors constrain the poor farmers in adopting and expanding livestock related activities, such as animal diseases, high morbidity and mortality rates, inadequate feed supply, low and variable prices and marketing problems, which result in high risks and financial uncertainties. The persistence of low productivity and high risks is a major factor that inhibits the poor households from expanding their scale of operation. Appropriate technologies that have been recognised by the farmers as sustainable and viable are: The rice-husk method of duck hatchery The key-rearing model, semi-scavenging egg production Production of the semi-scavenging poultry breed - the Sonali hen Rearing of semi-scavenging chickens Fattening of growing cattle by means of low cost feeds like urea-striated straw Rearing cross-bred cows in some potential areas Goat production, especially Black Bengal goats under semi-scavenging conditions

The livestock production executed through application of these appropriate technologies has not diverted or reduced the working hours of the beneficiaries. Instead the technologies have had an income-generating impact and they have not interrupted the household activities of the participating women. Need for strong support services, extension and training There has been much emphasis on the delivery of micro-credit services and micro credit for livestock producers in connection with the poverty targeted livestock services mentioned here. Moreover, poultry rearing activities are found to be a major source of support for the poor farmers. However, support services, which focus on improving the skills of the poor livestock keepers, are strongly needed to meet the more advanced technological and entrepreneurial requirements. NGOs have developed a cadre of female poultry workers who successfully provide primary treatment and disease protection by vaccination of poultry and sometimes goats. Furthermore, a cadre of Livestock Field Assistants has been trained to carry out primary treatment and vaccination among large ruminants. As a consequence of beneficiaries' motivation and implementation of effective disease protection measures, the mortality of both poultry and livestock has been reduced significantly. There is, however, still a need for extension services and training of farmers to improve their management skills.

37

Special attention to recruitment of female extension staff Training, especially as regards poultry, should be provided directly to the women themselves. Due to socio-cultural norms, the training is often most acceptable when it is provided by female extension workers and trainers. This may imply a deliberate recruitment and training of females at all levels, from village livestock volunteers and para-veterinary surgeons to fullyqualified female veterinary surgeons. Presently the ratio of men and women professional staff is 70:30 or more in some larger NGOs, but most of them are either office-based or work with other programmes. The most important reason for not recruiting women in micro-credit programme is that it is not safe for them to work after dusk/evening. Moreover, the nature of the job e.g. the process of collecting loan recovery money is difficult for a woman. In some conservative areas women cannot use motorcycle or bicycle as this conflicts with customs. It should however be acknowledged that most of the women human health workers are performing their work without serious problems. Mechanisms must therefore be developed to make it possible for women professionals also to work within the livestock sector at field level. The roles of the public and the private sector must be clearer The service delivery network of the DLS is found conspicuous in reaching the poor, whereas GOB/DLS is seriously constrained both by its personnel and by infrastructure facilities and is not likely to reach the rural poor. The delivery of livestock production inputs such as breeding animals, frozen semen, day old semi-scavenging chick (DOCs), fodder genetic materials and vaccines against highly infectious to the rural poor is limited. Thus a modified approach is necessary, which focus on reaching the poor livestock producers. In this connection the NGOs are found to play a more effective role, since they have developed a strong network, which is capable of reaching the poor. They have recorded laudable success in mobilising the rural poor, especially women, in groups. They have the ability to make the rural poor aware of their social rights and privileges and to organise various skill-development courses as regards livestock rearing. At the same time they provide micro credit and arrange profitable marketing of the products. The success is particularly noticeable in areas, where the GOB/NGO relationship is very strong. The GOB/NGO linkage has therefore been recognised as a determinant in offering better technical backup services to rural poor. NGOs have acknowledged their limitations as regards livestock input production and their delivery. These activities are pursued by DLS at subsidised rates on the plea of promoting livestock production in the country and expanding the incomegenerating activities of the poor. Nevertheless beneficiaries have improved their awareness and demonstrated their readiness to pay the cost value of inputs and veterinary services. There are thus indications that poor farmers do not require subsidy to achieve success in their livestock enterprises. As the sector grows, veterinary services should be privatised particularly for large livestock producers who rely on commercial inputs and can afford to pay the price.

In the present situation of the sector the delivery of subsidised inputs from GOB do not benefit the poor producers but hinders full privatisation and thereby also sustainability of the povertyfocussed livestock services.

38

References
Ministry of Finance (2002). A National Strategy for Economic Growth, Poverty Reduction and Social Development. Economic Relations division, Ministry of Finance, Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh ADB (1997). Participatory Livestock Development Project Bangladesh, TA No. 2426 BAN, Final Report, Asian Development Bank, Manila ADB (2000). Aide Memoire of Mid Term Review Mission, Participatory Livestock Development Project, Loan No. 1524-BAN (SF) and DANIDA Grant, Bangladesh Resident Mission, Asian Development Bank, Dhaka Ahmed, Z. (2002). Semi Scavenging Poultry Production Model chain Alam, J. (1995), Livestock Resource in Bangladesh: Present Status and Future Potential, University Press Limited, Dhaka Analysis on Bio Digester in CLDDP (Revised); Community Livestock and Dairy Development GMF/UNDP/FAO Project; Technical Bulletin No.: 03; 2001 Bangladesh Economic Review (2001). Economic Advisors wing Finance Division, Ministry of Finance, Peoples Republic of Bangladesh BBS (1998). Report on Household Expenditure Survey 1995/96, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Ministry of Planning, Government of the peoples Republic of Bangladesh, Dhaka BBS (1998). Rural Poverty Monitoring Survey 1997, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Ministry of Planning, Government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh, Dhaka BBS (1998). Year Book of Agricultural Statistics, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Ministry of Planning, Government of the peoples Republic of Bangladesh, Dhaka BBS (1999). Report of the Poverty Monitoring Survey, Ministry of Planning, Government of the peoples Republic of Bangladesh, Dhaka BBS (2000). Statistical Pocket Book of Bangladesh. Statistics division, Ministry of Planning, Government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh, Dhaka BBS (2001). National Accounts Statistics (Gross Domestic Product, 2000-2001), Bangladesh Bureau of statistics, Ministry of Planning, Government of the peoples Republic of Bangladesh, Dhaka BBS (1996). Census of Agriculture BBS (1995). Report on the Bangladesh Livestock Survey 1983-84 BIDS (1996). Dynamics of Rural Poverty in Bangladesh

39

BLRI (1991). Proceedings of the meeting of counterpart scientists of SAARC Member Countries of Animal Genetic Resource Conservation, sponsored by Ministry of Foreign Affairs Govt. of Bangladesh, Organized by BLRI, 1991 CIDA/BIDS (1996). Eradication of poverty in Bangladesh. Canadian International Development Agency and Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, Dhaka CIRDAP (1992). Livestock as a component of Rural Development in Selected Asian Countries CLDDP (2002). Annual Progress Report 2002. Community Livestock Development Project Nimgachi, Serajgonj CLDDP (2002). Long Term Operation Plan. GMF/FAO/UNDP Dalsgaard, J. P. T. (2002). Study Tour Report: Semi-Scavenging Poultry Model, Bangladesh DARUDEC (1996). Socio-economic impact of Small Holder Livestock Development Project DARUDEC (2002). Impact Assessment of Participatory Livestock Development Project Dickey, J.R. (1985). Productivity of Livestock and Poultry in Bangladesh. Working Paper IADS/BRAC, Dhaka, Bangladesh DLS (1996). Socio-economic Impact of Smallholder Livestock Development Project, Bangladesh, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Denmark and Development of Livestock Services, Dhaka DLS (1998). Activities and Achievements of the Directorate of Livestock Services 1997-1998, Bangladesh DLS (2001). Livestock Population statistics, Directorate of Livestock Services, Bangladesh Eusuf and Associates (1997). Poultry Sector Study: Bangladesh A Pre-feasibility study for Poultry Industry in Bangladesh Ganeswaran, K. (2001). Guidelines for Sustainable Community Livestock Services. Community Livestock and Dairy Development Bangladesh GOB/UNDP/FAO (2002). GOB/GMF/FAO Joint Mid Term Evaluation Mission Community Livestock Development BGD/98/009. Mission Report Greenwold, P.H., Lohavisaapanich, Clark, P and Dolberg, F. (1983). Bangladesh Livestock Development Pilot Project. FAO/World Bank Co-operative Report No 60/83/BGD. 37. Rome, Italy Howes, M. Shamim Ara, Shaha, C. Begum, A. and Asadullah, M.( 2002). The BRAC Poultry Programme, Case-6 Howes, M. (2002). Extension for sustainable Livelihoods in Bangladesh: The evidence from Six Case Studies

40

Huque, Q.M.E. and Chip Stem (1993). Livestock Feeds of Bangladesh: Availability and Nutrient Composition IFAD, (2002) .Mukharjee, N., Jahan N. and Akhter, M. The Peoples Republic of Bangladesh, Second Smallholder Livestock Development Project, IFAD Pre-Project Formulation Mission Sustainable Livelihood Analysis (SLA) Mia, A. R. (2001). Contributions of the Directorate of Livestock Services to Livestock Development in Bangladesh. Proceedings of National Livestock Exhibition, 6-7 April, Dhaka. Bangladesh pp. 18-23 Mian, M.A.H. (1996). Towards sustainable Development: The National Conservation strangely of Bangladesh, Livestock Sub-sector. Ministry of Environment and Forest. Government of Bangladesh Mitra, B. K. (2002); Brief Report of CLDDP up to February 2003; Community Livestock and Dairy Development Bangladesh Mujeri, K. and Sahabuddin, Q. (2001). Bangladesh Livestock Sub-Sector Review Mujeri, M.K. (2000). Position Paper on Agriculture Sector: The Sixth Five Year Plan 20022007. Planning Commission, Government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh, Dhaka Nakamura, R.M. (1990). A Livestock and Poultry Disease Control Programme for Bangladesh. Consultancy Report for ARP-II, Checchi/USAID/BRAC, Dhaka Patwary, Y. (2002). Bangladesh Integrated Nutrition Program (BINP); Monitoring Report, January 2002 PKSF (1994). Impact of PKSF Rural Credit program on the Beneficiaries. Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation, Dhaka Planning Commission (1998). The Fifth Five Year Plan 1997-2002. Government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh, Dhaka Planning Commission (1995). Participatory Perspective plan for Bangladesh 1995-2010. Government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh, Dhaka Tareque, A.M.M. (1991). Feeds and Fodder Resources in Bangladesh and Patterns of Utilization World Bank (2002). Poverty in Bangladesh. Building on Progress Report No. 24299-BD

41