Agroecological, Land-Elevation and Socioeconomic Determinants of Raising Livestock in Bangladesh

Sanzidur Rahman

doi:10.3390/agriculture8010012

Abstract

This paper determines the influence of agroecological, land-elevation and socioeconomic factors in the raising of different types of livestock in Bangladesh using nationwide sub-district level data from two Agriculture and Livestock Censuses of 1996 and 2008, by applying a simultaneous equations model. Results reveal that socioeconomic, land-elevation and agroecological factors exert significant but varied influence on the type of livestock raised by householders. The number of cattle, goat/sheep and poultry raised per household are significantly higher for medium and small farms as well as for wage-labour households. Cattle raised per household is significantly higher for non-farm households, whereas poultry raised is significantly lower. Gross-cropped area, literacy rate and research and development (R&D) investment significantly influence the number of cattle raised per household, whereas population density negatively influences the number of goat and poultry raised per household. The number of cattle and goat/sheep raised per household is significantly higher in the Old Himalayan Floodplain, whereas poultry-raising is significantly higher in the Eastern Hills and seven other agroecologies. Raising all types of livestock is significantly lower in low-lying areas. The number of cattle raised per household is significantly higher at high land elevation, but significantly lower in medium-low land and low-lying areas. On the other hand, the number of goat/sheep and poultry raised per household is significantly higher in medium-high land areas and significantly lower in low-lying areas. The policy implications of these results will be relevant to investments in R&D, education, tenurial reform and measures to promote different types of livestock suited to specific agroecology and land-elevation levels.

Highlights

Rising populations, income and urbanization in developing countries are increasing the demand for food from animal origin at unprecedented levels [1]
Since one of the focuses of this study is to highlight the influence of agroecology on raising livestock, we first provide evidence of differences with respect to selected indicators including the number of livestock raised per household among 12 composite agroecological zones (AEZ)
Development Program (UNDP) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) jointly conducted a major analysis to identify the AEZs of Bangladesh, which are based mainly on land types, soil types, fertility, conditions, temperature and rainfall regimes, and identified 30 AEZs [30]

Summary

Introduction

Income and urbanization in developing countries are increasing the demand for food from animal origin at unprecedented levels [1]. The increasing demand for milk, meat and eggs are the major driving force for these changes [2]. Livestock products are important for global food security because they provide 17% of global calorie consumption and 33% of global protein consumption [3]. The rapid growth in demand for livestock products, in developing economies, is termed the ‘livestock revolution’ [5,6]. Global milk production is projected to increase from 664 million tons in 2006 to 1077 million tons in 2050, and meat production to double from 258 million tons to 455 million tons [7]

Methods

Results

Conclusion