Promotion of Smallholder Dairy Production in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is a densely populated agricultural country with an acute shortage of dairy milk. There are about 24.5 million cattle in Bangladesh, of which about 10 million are breeding cows. They provide mainly milk, meat, draught power, transport, and hide (an important export item). Dairying is practiced in Bangladesh as a part of local crop livestock farming systems, typically involving one or two animals and half an acre of land. The cows are mostly maintained as bull mothers and to produce a little surplus of milk (0.5–1.5 liters daily) for household consumption. Some fermented milk products, such as yogurt, cheese, buttermilk, and sour cream, are produced by traditional methods. DAIRY PRODUCTION IN BANGLADESH The Department of Livestock Services (DLS) is the only government department whose responsibility is to motivate and provide extension to livestock-rearing farmers to meet the shortage of animal products (e.g., milk, meat, eggs) as food for the people and also to bring foreign currency to the country. Many policies exist to increase milk production throughout the country, through government dairy farms or private dairy farms. The main objectives of these policies are to distribute raw milk at lower cost and to provide calves at marginal cost to poor farmers interested in rearing dairy animals. The DLS staff also provide other services such as the dispensation of advice on feed, health care, and sometimes medicine. The livestock development strategies in the fifth five-year plan of the Bangladeshi government are to • increase people’s participation through the development of entrepreneurial groups and create new employment opportunities for smallholder farmers, landless laborers, women, and other target groups in livestock development; • generate income for and alleviate the poverty of rural poor farmers through livestock development; • increase the supply of milk, meat, eggs, hides and skins, and other animal products