Abstract
Poultry production is a valuable source of nutritious food and income and is considered a crucial part of global development. This is especially important for countries such as Bangladesh where levels of hunger and childhood stunting remain high. However, in many low- and middle-income countries poultry production remains dominated by small to medium scale enterprises operating with poor farm biosecurity associated with poultry and zoonotic disease risks. We aimed to characterize the structure of poultry production in Bangladesh in order to identify the underlying structural factors and resulting practices which create risk environments for emergence, persistence and transmission of infectious diseases.Using the concept of a production and distribution network (PDN), we conducted a review of the literature, 27 in-depth interviews with key-informants and stakeholders, and 20 structured interviews with poultry distributors to map the ways which poultry are raised, distributed and marketed in Bangladesh. Findings indicate that the PDN can be considered in the context of four major sub-networks, based on the types of chickens; broadly indigenous, cross-bred, exotic broiler, and layer chickens. These sub-networks do not exist in isolation; their transactional nodes - actors and sites - are dynamic and numerous interactions occur within and between the PDN.Our findings suggest that the growth in small and medium scale poultry enterprises is conducted within ‘fragile’ enterprises by inexperienced and poorly supported producers, many of whom lack capacity for the level of system upgrading needed to mitigate disease risk. Efforts could be taken to address the structural underlying factors identified, such as the poor bargaining power of producers and lack of access to independent credit and indemnity schemes, as a way to reduce the fragility of the PDN and increase its resilience to disease threats.This knowledge on the PDN structure and function provide the essential basis to better study the generation, mitigation and consequences of disease risks associated to livestock, including the analysis of potential hotspots for disease emergence and transmission.
Highlights
Poultry are a valuable source of protein (FAO, 2013; Miller and Welch, 2013) and provide opportunities for poverty alleviation, gender empowerment (Paul et al, 2013; Wong et al, 2017), and improved maternal and child nutrition (Alders et al, 2018)
We extend ideas taken from previous value chain analysis (Ahmed et al, 2012; Alam et al, 2013; Alarcon et al, 2017; Amin et al, 2012; Buckley and Strange, 2015; Ebata et al, 2018; FAO, 2011; Gibbon and Ponte, 2005; Goletti et al, 1995; Kaplinsky, 2000; Kaplinsky and Morris, 2001), largely concerned with distributional regulatory and efficiency questions, to the concept of production and distribution network (PDN hereafter)
The literature on Bangladesh poultry production referred to four chicken types; deshi [Bangla for ‘local’], cross-bred Sonali [Bangla for ‘golden’], exotic broilers, and exotic layers; which existed within four rearing systems; backyard, semi-scavenging, intensive broiler, and intensive layer
Summary
Poultry are a valuable source of protein (FAO, 2013; Miller and Welch, 2013) and provide opportunities for poverty alleviation, gender empowerment (Paul et al, 2013; Wong et al, 2017), and improved maternal and child nutrition (Alders et al, 2018). In lowand middle-income countries (LMICs hereafter) poultry production is considered a crucial part of global development, contributing to the achievement of several sustainable development goals (UN, 2015), and has become the fastest growing livestock sector worldwide (FAOSTAT, 2017; Mottet and Tempio, 2017). In Bangladesh, despite sustained economic growth and nutritional improvements over last two decades, the prevalence of hunger and childhood stunting remain high - 26.1 % and 31 % respectively (GHI, 2019; NIPORT and ICF, 2019). While poultry consumption in the country has increased dramatically over the last 30 years current con sumption - 6.3–8.5 kg/person/year (LightCastle, 2020; WPSA, 2020) remains lower than the world average (14.7 kg/person/year) and far behind that of many high-income countries (OECD and FAO, 2020). Safeguarding the development of the poultry sector is considered important to improve the nutritional status and economic development of Bangladeshi people
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