Poultry as a Tool in Poverty Eradication and Promotion of gender Equality

Dr. Kazi Abdul Fattah

Director General
Department of Livestock Services
Farm Gate, 1215 Dhaka, Bangladesh

Summary

Due to poverty, a high population density and many landless people a special effort is required to reach the poor and landless, especially the women. The paper describes the evolution in GOB's work that has led to the development of the Bang­ladesh Poultry Development Model, which has been found to be very effective in reaching and involving poor women in economic development.

Key words: Poultry, poverty alleviation, gender, economic development.

Introduction

The People's Republic of Bangladesh is a small and densely populated country located in South Asia bordering India and Myanmar on three sides and the Bay of Bengal on the fourth's side. According to the world Population Profile 1994 (U.S. Census Bureau) except for some city-states, Bangladesh has more people per Sq. Km. of land than any other country. More than 125 million people are living in 1,48,393 Sq. km. The population growth rate is 2.17% and literacy is around 51%.

Bangladesh is mainly a land of agriculture and about eighty percent of its people live in villages. Average cultivable land per person is only 0.25 acre, but it is not evenly distributed. According to the Human Development report of UNDP 10% of the landowners possess 49% of the agricultural land, while the 10% with the least own only 2%. The favoured 20% of the population enjoy 49% of the national income and the share of the bottom 20% is only 7.5%. According to this report 47.5% of the people of Bangladesh still live below the poverty line and they re­ceive less than 1900 calories per person per day as against the standard of 2300 calories. Referring to the human development Index (UNDP, 1996), which is a composite measure of life expectancy at birth, adult literacy and command over resources needed for satisfactory living, the situation of Bangladesh compared to other countries of the region, is as follow:

The profile of human deprivation (UNDP, 1996) indicated that in 1993, the per­centage of people in the country for whom basic human needs are not met is 76%. They are in a state of economic, social and psychological deprivation having insuf­ficient ownership, control or access to resources as required for an acceptable liv­ing standard.

Human Development refers to development of all men, women and children. About 80% of the population of the country live in villages and poverty is higher in rural than in urban areas. Fifty percent of the population are women and poverty is higher among women than among men. Women are comparatively less educated and skilled. According to a report by FAO, 15% of all households in Bangladesh are headed by women who are either widows, divorced or having a disabled hus­band and according to the same report, 96% of the members of these households are below the poverty line and 33% of them belong to the hard core poor who experience chronic food shortage due to their inability to participate in any income earning activities as women's access to employment in Bangladesh is limited. Pov­erty has forced many of them out of their homes in search of employment even though the female wage rate is 25-30% lower than the male wage rate.

The effect of poverty falls most severely on women and girls as they get less food, their calorie intake being 29% lower than men's and boys'. About 93% chil­dren under 5 years and 77% of pregnant mothers of this class suffer from protein deficiency and malnutrition, 30-35% newborn babies are below normal weight. Malnutrition affects physical and mental growth, learning capacities and activities of people.

Causes of poverty

The major causes of poverty may be summarized as:

 

i)        Low economic growth

ii)     Inequitable distribution of income

iii)   Unequal distribution of productive assets.

iv)    Unemployment and under employment

v)       High rate of population growth

vi)    Low level of human resources development

vii)  Natural disasters:

a)    Cyclone

b)    Flood

c)    River erosion

d)    Draught

e)    Crop failure for many other reasons

viii) Limited access to public services and utilities etc.

Poultry rearing in Bangladesh

In a condition where many people are landless, under privileged, having no land for crop cultivation, education or formal skills to participate in income earning activities, poultry play a very important role for income generation and poverty alleviation for this class particularly for the distressed women as described above.

According to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) 19.6% of the people have no cultivable land, but homestead only. Poultry rearing play a very vital role for income generation of this group, as this requires minimum land, short capital and not very high skills.

Poultry (Chickens and Ducks) rearing at household level in Bangladesh is a tra­ditional method. It is an integral part of agro-business of the village community. About 89% of the rural households rear poultry and the average no of birds per household are 6.8% (BBS). The number of poultry in the country according to BBS is:

Table 1.    Number of chicken and ducks in Bangladesh

Species	1995-96	1996-97	1997-98
Fowl (million)	127.50	130.20	138.20
Duck (million)	12.65	12.70	13.00

These birds scavenge in and around the farmers' homesteads and meet a major part of their feed requirements in this way and require little additional food. Of course, their production level is low as the breed quality is poor, but still this system sup­plies about 80% of the total production of eggs and chicken meat of the country.

Bangladesh is a land of rivers, canals and ponds with water almost the whole year and people rear ducks there. Ducks swim in the water, collect snails and aquatic weeds from the water areas and require little or no additional food from the owner to fetch a profit for the owner. The importance of poultry as a source of income for the landless and the marginal farmers, especially the women has now been more widely recognized.

Poultry in poverty alleviation

Up to the middle of the nineteen eighties, the activities of the Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh (GOB) in this sector remained confined to the big farmers and they were limited to preventive care, i.e. mostly vaccination of poultry against Newcastle disease. Considering the condition of the landless, especially of the distressed women and their socio-economic condition, the Government sub­sequently changed its thoughts and activities to with the aim to change the lot of these poor groups by involving them in livestock and poultry rearing.

The smallholder livestock development program involving this group of people began in Bangladesh in 1984-85. Under the program, initially poultry (chicken and ducks) and subsequently to a limited scale, goat and beef fattening activities were taken up. The World Food Program (WFP) played a very vital role in this program by providing assistance in the form of food aid, training and other logistic supports. A hard-core poverty stricken area map has been developed by this organization to provide assistance to the vulnerable groups. The program initially launched was a vulnerable group feeding one (VGF). Under this program a distressed family was provided with 31 kg wheat per month, which continued for a period of 2 years. By the end of the second year the program is shifted to another area. After this pro­gram was evaluated by WFP it was found that following the withdrawal of assis­tance, the groups became again vulnerable and it had no sustainable effect.

At this stage some 8-10 trades like kitchen gardening, beating rice, making pop rice, embroidered quilt, poultry farming etc. were experimentally tried with differ­ent groups of people to see whether any sustainable program could be identified. By the end of the trial, it was found that poultry farming was the most suitable trade for these vulnerable groups. The Department of Livestock Services (DLS) in collaboration with a national NGO (BRAC) in a district named Manikganj con­ducted the trial with the assistance of WFP (see also Saleque in these proceedings).

Besides the landless farmers and distressed women, there are a large number of youths in the country with no job opportunities, who are also being involved in livestock rearing.

The present activities of the GOB in this sector include:

·       Motivation of village people and youth

·       Training of rural women and landless farmers

·       Input supply

·       Small credit

·       Veterinary coverage

·       Marketing outlets

The poultry and livestock program and activities as tools of income and employ­ment generation have been chosen mainly for two groups of people.

Ø      The landless farmers, distressed women and

Ø      The jobless youths.

Poultry for landless farmers and the distressed women

The GOB strategies to make village poultry rearing more profitable includes provi­sion of improved breed in an integrated package for landless and particularly the distressed women. The package includes motivation, group organization, and training on poultry management, vaccination, and supply of small credit to the tar­get groups and regular supervision and advice (see Saleque in these proceedings).

The efforts to establish poultry rearing as a source of income generation and a means of poverty eradication are now implemented in the shape of eight technolo­gies as shown in the survey below.

The ownership of backyard poultry is almost entirely in the hands of women and therefore, all poultry programs focuses the village women. In fact, except the egg collectors, 100% of the beneficiaries of the program are women and under­privileged groups of the society.

 

Technologies	Yearly average income
1.    Key poultry rearers: Rearing 10-13 hens of improved breed in a scavenging or semi-scavenging system with little additional feed supply.	Tk. 2900.00 ($ 60.00)
2.    Model rearers:  Rearing 25-30 hens and 3-4 cocks in a semi-scavenging system with addition of some feed.	Tk. 7500.00 ($ 160.00)
3.    Pullet rearers: Growing 100 pullets for a period of 12-15 weeks to sell to the model rearer, 3 batches in a year may be reared.	Tk. 10,000.00 ($ 210.00)
4.    Mini poultry farmers: Rearing 50 hens in confinement with balanced feed.	Tk. 7500.00 ($ 160.00)
5.    Chick rearers: Rears 250-300 day old chicks or ducklings for a period of 8-10 weeks and sell to the key poultry rearers or pullet rearers. At least 4 batches are reared and sold in a year.	Tk. 10,000.00 ($ 210.00)
6.    Mini-hatcherers: They collect hatching eggs from the model rearers; hatch about 300-500 eggs in each batch using the rice husk method. They sell the chicks to the chick rearers. The cycle of hatching is repeated 8-10 times a year.	Tk. 18,000.00 ($ 375.00)
7.    Egg collectors: In the villages where the poultry extension program is undertaken, egg production increases, and to keep the market stable these persons collect the eggs from the village producers i.e. Key Rearers and sell in the local market or urban areas at a higher price.	Tk. 6,000.00 ($ 125.00)
8.    Poultry workers: This is the most important part of the rural poultry development program. These targeted persons after a short training, receive poultry vaccines from the Government, keep the poultry vaccinated in a routine manner and get a fixed fee for their services. They advise the poultry rearers on poultry hygiene and management.	Tk. 6000.00 ($ 125.00)

Sketch diagram of poultry development and extension acitivities
for generating employment and income earning sources

M.R.	=	Model Rearer	The activities are related with each other and the program is so designed that the inputs required to run their acitivites are all produced by the beneficiaries. In this program, the beneficiaries need mainly veterinary coverage credit and credit. The types of birds used in the program are (i) Rhode Island Red, (ii) White Leghorn and (iii) Sonali, a cross bred bird made out of RIR mä  x Fayoumi m+
P.R.	=	Pullet Rearer
C.R.	=	Chick Rearer
K.R.	=	Key Rearer
E.C.	=	Egg Collector
F.S.	=	Feed Seller
P.W.	=	Poultry Worker

Impact of the program

The technology packages used in the program of village poultry rearing activities generate varying amounts of income from $ 60.00 to $ 375.00 per annum. In the year 1988, a survey was conducted to find the result of the program with 97 key poultry rearers and the results are presented in table 2.

From the survey it was found that:

·       The poultry mortality rate fell from 21.3 to 7.6% in the project area

·       Yearly consumption of chicken meat increased from 1.6 to 16.7 chicken and that of eggs from 43 to 186.

·       Yearly income from sale of chicken and eggs rose from Tk. 400.00 to about Tk. 2919.00 or about $. 60.00.

For comparison, it may be mentioned that the average per capita income in Bangladesh at present is around $ 250.00-280.00. The income earned through rearing of only 10 improved birds increased income by about seven times with

Table 2.  Economic and nutritional benefits of the program

No	Survey indicators	Before the program	After one year in the program
1.	Number of families surveyed	97	97
2.	Average number of chicken/family	2.7	8.6
3.	Rate of poultry mortality	21.3%	7.6%
4.	Sale of chicken	3.4	20.6
5.	Sale of eggs (number)	93	768
6.	Family consumption of eggs	43 nos.	186 nos.
7.	Family consumption of chicken	1.6	16.7
8.	Average annual income from sale of eggs and chicken	Tk. 400.00 $ 8.00	Tk 2919.00 $ 60.00

little additional time and labour required. This additional income helps the target groups to buy food and other commodities of urgent need during their difficult days or festivals as documented in a later survey by Alam, 1997.

From 1986 to 1991 poultry rearing by village women has evolved through experiments sponsored by the Income Generation for the Vulnerable Group De­velopment Program (IGVGD) which was assisted by the WFP and, which had the cooperation of an NGO (see Saleque, these proceedings) and another project namely Integrated Livestock Development program (ILDP) funded by GOB.

Major achievements of these programs are:

1.         Employment opportunities generated.

2.         Income of the women has been increased.

3.         Social status of the women has been enhanced and the women poultry vaccinators are now regarded as "Poultry Doctors".

4.         Awareness increased.

5.         Knowledge of nutrition increased.

6.         Improvement in environment.

7.         Saving habits developed.

8.         Credit repayment increased.

9.         Number of improved birds increased.

10.     Poultry and duck mortality rates decreased and production increased.

11.     Use of vaccine and management skill improved.

12.     Credit and management improved.

13.     Interest in the work increased.

14.     Nutritional development through increased production of eggs and meat.

15.     Reduction in vagrancy and begging.

16.     Increased interest in economic development.

17.     Literacy rate increased.

18.     Stability in family life and family health care facilities improved.

Based on the experience and the success of this program the Smallholders Live­stock Development Programs (SLDP) with the financial assistance of IFAD and DANIDA was formulated and implemented from 1993 to 1998.

The program consisted of skill development of village women on poultry rear­ing and poultry health management through training, credit and other inputs. The program covered 0.40 million households. This program in turn has led to formu­lation of new programs. A summary is provided in table 3.

Table 3.  Summary of poultry activities and projects

Project	SLDP-1/ IFAD/ DANIDA	PLDP	PNP	SLDP II	VEDP	BRAC RDP
Project period	1992-1998	1998-2002 ADB/ DANIDA	1997-2001 World Bank	Expected 1999-2003 DANIDA	Annual	Expected to continue as BRAC activities
Thanas covered	80	89	40	26	Countrywide	Countrywide
Beneficiaries: number and type	Landless poor women (4,00000 HHs)	Landless and poor women (364,000 HHs)	Poorest HHs with a child below 2 years or pregnant woman (an estimated 69,000 HHs)	Primarily poor women (109,000)	450,000 very poor women reached every year. 85% estimated to apply the model	1.2 million

A socio-economic survey was conducted in 1997 for the IFAD/DANIDA assisted Small Holder Livestock Development Project (SLDP) by Dr. J. Alam of the Bang­ladesh Livestock Research Institute and it was found that the income of the partici­pating households increased significantly and use of income especially to the bene­fit of children and consumption of animal protein from eggs, chicken meat, chicken meat, milk and beef increased significantly.

These activities not only helped the target group in their poverty reduction efforts, they have also increased the growth rate of poultry in the country. Per capita availability of poultry meat and eggs has increased. Table 4 shows the pro­duction trend of poultry and egg in the country.

Table 4.  Trend in poultry numbers and poultry eggs

Yr.	1993-94	1994-95	1995-96	1996-97	1997-98
No. of poultry (million)	130.42	137.84	140.00	143.00	151.00
No. of eggs (million)	2276.00	2400.00	2840.00	3020.00	3250.00

Poultry for jobless youths

It is estimated that at present the number of educated, but jobless youths are about ten million in Bangladesh. Unemployed, they are a burden to their families as well as to the society. These young people have received their education in schools and colleges, but have not got any skills of technical and income earning activities.

As it has been demonstrated that village women, if trained on poultry rearing and management and supplied with the necessary inputs can earn a reasonable income, GOB has expanded these activities to the educated, but jobless youths with the aim to develop their skills through training and assist them in finding a source of employment in livestock farming.

It is a good sign that a large number of young people are showing their interest in it. Table 5 shows the trend in development of small and medium size commer­cial poultry farms in the country.

Table 5.  Growth in poultry farms

	Year
	1993-94	1994-95	1995-96	1996-97	1997-98
No. of poultry farms	43,589	56,567	68,863	75,290	91,430

The establishment of poultry farms has also meant establishment of small-scale poultry farm equipment manufacturing industries, including some small and a few large-scale poultry feed manufacturing industries. These industries have also cre­ated employment and income for a number of people.

The Bangladesh poultry mode has acquired international fame and was pre­sented to the twentieth World Poultry Congress (Jensen, 1996) that took place in New Delhi, India and there are now attempts to apply the model in countries like India, Bhutan, Nepal, Vietnam, North Korea, and Kenya etc.

Poultry Production Chain

Although our approach to using poultry production in poverty alleviation and employment generation has proven to be very useful, there are of course always aspects that can be improved upon.

Constraints

The following may be cited as some of the major ones:

Physical constraints:

·       No Government infrastructure facilities at village level for training of beneficiaries, storage and preservation of inputs, etc.

·       High prices of medicines and feed ingredients.

·       Unskilled people appointed by NGOs.

·       Shortage of skilled GOB manpower.

Biological constraints:

·       Shortage of suitable good quality poultry breed.

·       Too few breeding farms and hatcheries for chick production.

·       Low productivity of the indigenous breed.

·       Indiscriminate import of chicks.

·       New poultry diseases and non-availability of vaccines against them.

Financial and other constraints:

·       Insufficient funds for transfer of sustainable technologies.

·       Lack of organised marketing system.

·       Access to credit and financial institutions.

National commitment and GOB pledges towards poverty eradication

Article 28 of the constitution of Bangladesh states " Women shall have equal rights with men in all spheres of state and public life''. The article states further that" Nothing in the article shall prevent the state from making special provision in favour of women and children or for the advancement of any backward section of citizens".

GOB pledges towards poverty eradication are stipulated from:

a)    The Dhaka Declaration during the 7th SAARC summit April 1993.

b)    The Social Summit held in Copenhagen, Denmark, March 1995.

c)    Micro-credit Summit held in Washington DC, February 1997.

From the experience described in this paper it may be opined that the fate of the most disadvantaged groups of the society, particularly the poorest women, can be improved substantially by involving them in poultry rearing activities.

Conclusion

It is essential to produce and maintain a stable and constant supply of food to meet the requirements of the growing population of Bangladesh.

The aim of the fifth GOB five-year plan is to fight against hunger and poverty by generating employment and income through increased production for which a livestock strategy is now in place.

References

Alam, J. (1997). Socio-Economic Impact of Smallholder Livestock Development Project, Field Survey, October 1997.

Amin, M.M. (1997). Chances and Opportunities of Agricultural Development in Bangla­desh in the 21^st Century, The Livestock Sector.

Amin, M.M. (1997). An Integrated Approach to Small Scale Poultry Farming, July 1997

Amin, M.M. (1998). Livestock Rearing Package Program, 28th July 1998.

Fattah (1998). Present status of poultry production and supply of inputs for profitable poultry rearing, 13^th May 1998.

Jensen, Askov H. (1996). Semi-Scavenging Model for Rural Poultry Holding, XX World Poultry Congress, New Delhi, Vol. 1.

Rahman, A. (not dated). Poverty alleviation of destitute women through homestead live­stock farming.

Saleque, Md. A. (these proceedings). Scaling-up: Critical Factors in Leadership, Manage­ment, Human Resource Development and Institution Building in going from pilot pro­ject to large scale implementation: The BRAC Poultry Model in Bangladesh.

UNDP (1996). Human Development Report 1996.

 

In addition the paper builds on information drawn from several GOB documents such as the current Five-Year Plan and documents on the Smallholder and the Par­ticipatory Livestock Development Projects.

 

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