Present status, problem and prospect of duck farming in rural areas of Mymensingh district, Bangladesh

Thesis Overview

<p> <b>1. Introduction</b></p><p>&nbsp;Bangladesh is an agricultural country. Poultry plays a significant role in the subsistence economy of the country and contribute 1.6% in GDP (SAEDF, 2008). Among the poultry species, duck ranks 2nd just after chicken in producing poultry meat and eggs. DLS has given an estimation of duck population of 37.2, 38.70, 39.08 and 39.84 million for the year of 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 respectively, while FAO given population of duck in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 as 20, 21, 22 and 23 million, respectively. At present, prices of meat and eggs are beyond the buying capacity of the poor people. Increased ducks egg and meat production can play a vital role in solving these problems. Duck keeping is one of the possible means of breaking out poverty trap of resourcepoor small holder families in low income countries (Pym et al., 2002). Ducks are considered to be the most important asset and source of income for ultra poor rural women. Small scale duck farming has not only been proved to be a beneficial occupation for small, marginal and landless farmers, but also a potential source of selfemployment for the youth and distress women (Jabber, 2004). There are many advantages of duck production and the duck can be considered as a good all purpose poultry species. Duck needs less care and management. Ducks can exploit natural water bodies; marshy lands, haors, rivers, ponds and cannels for their individual gain. About one-ninth of the total land of Bangladesh is low land which is very much suitable for duck rearing. It is easy to raise, need less space for rearing and require low inputs of feed, housing facilities and management. Ducks are hardy and can easily adapt to different climates and they are also relatively resistance to diseases (Holderread, 1990). Ducks are excellent foragers and if allowed to scavenge, can consume enough natural feed to cover most of their nutrient requirements. The scavenging venues of duck and chicken are different. So, they are not competitor of each other for scavengable feeds. Duck offers the opportunity for better utilization of water and aquatic resources to generate food and income for rural communities. Poor villagers can get maximum return by giving minimum supplemental diets to their ducks. The prospect of duck rearing in Mymensingh district of Bangladesh lies in the fact that there are large areas of low-lying water reservoirs where waters stand throughout the year. These water reservoirs contain weeds, fishes, snails, insects, fallen grains etc, which are the important feeds for ducks when reared under scavenging and semi scavenging systems. There is a great potentiality in improving the productivity of duck through better feeding and management. The problem and prospect of duck rearing has not been yet assessed and quantified. Very few research works had been done on the potentiality, productivity and profitability of duck rearing. To increase the productivity of duck, the present status, problems and prospects are needed to be assessed for economic rearing of duck in Bangladesh. Therefore, the present experiment was undertaken to know the present status and existing production system of duck and assess the problems and prospects of duck rearing in the rural reas of Mymensingh district.<br></p><p> <b>2. Materials and Methods</b></p><p>&nbsp;Several villages (Sohila, Bosra, Doribabakholi, Paglabazar, Mirzapur, Bagunbari, Char-nirikkha) under Sadar upazila of Mymensingh district and fifty farmers were selected from these villages purposefully and randomly. The selected farmers were considered on the basis of their traditional crop production combined with smallscale duck production system. The data were collected by interviewing with a fill up questionnaires on farmers knowledge regarding of duck rearing during March to May 2010. Some parameters like feed weight, egg weight and body weight were recorded directly by the researchers. Collected data were analyzed in accordance with the objectives of the study. Mean, standard deviation chi- test and percentage were used mainly to illustrate the results. <br></p>