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Socio-economic Determinants of Milk Production in Bangladesh: an Implication on On-farm Water Use

M N Sultana
Department of Animal Nutrition, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh-2202, Bangladesh

M M Uddin
Department of Animal Nutrition, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh-2202, Bangladesh

K J Peters
ADT-Institute for Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences, LeWi-Faculty, Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

This study envisaged understanding the socio-economic factors that affect milk production and on-farm blue water use (OBWU). The cross-sectional data sets collected from 220 sample dairy farms were modeled by using two separate regression models. Firstly, a general linear model (GLM) was used to explore the factors that influence milk production. Secondly, OBWU (categorized as low, medium and high) was regressed by using a multinomial logit (MNL) model to identify socio-economic determinants of OBWU. The GLM results revealed that the age of farm owner, off-farm income and training had a negative influence, while experience in farming activities have a positive impact on milk production. The MNL regression results revealed that gender of the farm owner (men), education, experience, milk yield, and herd size had a significant positive influence on OBWU, and the increasing age of farm owner and off-farm income had a negative significant impact on OBWU level. It is concluded that socio-economic factors affecting milk production and OBWU are highly linked with the adoption of efficient management decision tools that will guide the farmers to allocate water resources effectively for increasing milk production.

Keywords: Blue water, Farmer experience, Socio-economic factors

Location: In Bangladesh

Start Date:

End Date:

Program Area: Socio-economic and Policy

Commodity: Milk, Water management

Objectives:

i) how and to what extent do the socio-economic factors influence milk production; ii) what are their implications on direct OBWU?

Methodology:

Study areas: Districts in the northwest (NW) and north-eastern (NE) parts were selected to provide the farm database. The altitude varies between 36 m, and 10 m (Sumiko 1993). Three districts were selected from these two regions. Two districts were belonging to NW region (i.e. Dinajpur and Sirajgonj) and one was in NE region (Kishorgonj). The study locations with the agro-ecological condition, rainfall and temperature. The NW is bounded by the Brahmaputra-Jamuna and Ganges - two major rivers in South Asia. This region has 34,600 km² in area and the land is dominated by high (36 m) and medium (16 m) altitudes of land (Sumiko 1993; BBS 2007). Agriculture, particularly dairying, is the major activity in the NW region but water is the liming factor to promote dairying and hampers the development. A shallow tube well (STW) irrigation pumping technique is the predominant source for water due to which seasonal water table decline is widespread within the region (Halcrow 2001). Apart from that, the water availability in this region is also dependent on the actual water flow in the Ganges River which highly fluctuates due to the construction of the Farakka Barrage (which is a Dam constructed by India upstream). Sampling procedure and data collection In order to make valid inferences and to represent the overall milk production systems and the consequences of different levels of water use on milk production, it is necessary to collect data from all the possible observations of interest. A simple random sampling technique is appropriate in such case that helps to avoid biases in the selection of dairy farms (Quinn and Keough 2002) because in this technique, all dairy farms have the same probability of being selected. Hence, within a radius of 500 m from the center of each study village 3-5 sample dairy farms were selected randomly. In total 44 villages (22 villages per region) were selected based on the facts that dairy is the major activity for more than 40% of the village population. A pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect the farm data by using face-to-face interviews. In total 220 dairy farms were interviewed. The data collection was done on the following broad subjects: 1) Milk production, 2) OBWU, such as water for drinking, feed mixing plus cleaning roadside grass and servicing (i.e. cleaning dairy shed, utensils, and dairy animals themselves etc; 3) Sources of water supply; and 4) Questions on socioeconomic factors, and farm and farmer characteristics. The description of the variables and their descriptive statistics are stated, respectively.

Source of Information: Livestock Research for Rural Development 28 (1) 2016

Article Link (Online Journal): http://www.lrrd.org/lrrd28/1/sult28001.html[06.01.2016 19:51:58

Funding Source:

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

This article analyzes the socio-economic factors that influence milk production and on-farm blue water use (OBWU) in dairy farming systems in BD. Two separate regression models were applied to fulfill the objective of this study. The GLM revealed that age, off-farm income and training had a negative influence, but the experience of farming activities of farm owners had a significant positive impact on milk production. Due to the fact that level of OBWU affects milk production significantly and positively, thus, this study further analyzes which factors influence OBWU. A MNL model was applied to investigate this research question and found that age, gender and off-farm income are associated with OBWU in a negative direction. Gender (male), experience and education of the farmers are associated positively with OBWU. In addition, larger herds/farm and higher milk yield/cow are also associated positively and significantly with OBWU/day. Understanding the underlying socio-economic factors affecting milk production and OBWU is of high relevance because it helps to adopt efficient management decision tools which guide the farmers to decide on the economic allocation of water for enhancing milk production. The study results are, thus, contributing to provide information to key informants about the importance of efficient OBWU on milk production in order to devise suitable policy recommendations for increasing milk production in Bangladesh and other tropical countries. The results of this study imply that gaining experience and policy decision on providing formal education specifically on water importance to motivate relatively old farmers and women would significantly be helpful to improve of water management at the farm level. A recommendation can be made for future water management at the farm level: water from surface water bodies are preferable to use as servicing water. Capturing water from rain during the rainy season when water is in excess and use it during dry season could be an alternative policy options. A further study might be designed in this direction.

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