Problems of small to medium size poultry farms -

Bangladesh perspective
S. SHAH1* M. SHARMIN2 and S. HAIDER3
1
Agrovet Business Unit, Opsonin Pharma Limited, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh, 2Z. H. Sikder Medical College,
Dhaka, Bangladesh, 3Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Dhaka,
Bangladesh.
*Corresponding author: a_1vetproc@yahoo.com
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Abstracts: Commercial poultry farming has now turned into a profitable business in
Bangladesh. However, in the recent years, many small to medium sized farms are losing their
interest to invest on poultry business and many have even dropped out. The aim of this study
was to find out the possible problems faced by the small to medium size poultry farms in
Bangladesh and the reasons for reluctant attitude of the poultry farmers towards their business.
A questionnaire and interview based study was conducted among 450 small to medium size
poultry farmers randomly selected from different districts of Bangladesh to identify the
problems they face in their daily business activities. Selected farmers were asked to fill up the
questionnaires prior to direct interviews conducted by properly trained surveyors. Data
collected from the farmers were arranged in appropriate tabular forms and data analysis was
performed using Microsoft Excel version XP software. Among 450 farmers, 95% farmers
cannot select appropriate chicks as per their requirements, 87% of them are bound to use feed
as per the wish of feed suppliers, 72% do not consult with poultry consultants/veterinary
doctors, 78% use medicine as per the direction of veterinary medicine sellers and 92% farmers
depend on brokers/middlemen for marketing their birds or eggs. On part of the 205 veterinary
medicine sellers, 86% of them violate veterinary doctors’ prescriptions and 98% veterinary
medicine sellers do not have any authorized license for dispensing medicines. It was also
revealed that 78% small to medium farmers believe that poultry business is presently at risk in
Bangladesh and 88% of them could not get satisfactory profits from this business. The findings
of the study indicate that most of the farmers are highly dependent on the brokers and
middlemen for smooth running of their poultry business. Due to improper role played by such
persons as chick suppliers, feed suppliers, veterinary medicine sellers and meat/egg buyers, the
small to medium size poultry farmers are facing a lot of problems hampering the growth of
small and medium size poultry industries. A strong policy and risk-free chain business network,
aimed at protecting the concerned farmers, will bring greater success in the poultry sector in
Bangladesh.
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Keywords: poultry farms; brokers; middlemen; chick suppliers; feed suppliers; veterinary medicine
sellers; poultry business.

Introduction
Bangladesh is a country of serious malnutrition where nearly half of its population of 135 million
still lives below the poverty line (The World Bank in Bangladesh 2003). Protein deficiency has been
taken as the major contributory factor in malnutrition. The per capita consumption of animal protein
in Bangladesh is only 11.8 g per day (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics 2001) whereas the standard
requirement of 36 g is recommended by UNO (Ahmed and Islam 1985). The poultry sub-sector is
considered as an important avenue to reduce poverty and malnutrition as well as unemployment
problems of Bangladesh. Small commercial poultry farming is expanding in the country in the peri-
urban areas as layer and broiler farming and cockerel raising. The small scale commercial poultry
farms are being developed by the cooperation of institutional credit, NGOs and public sector technical
support.
From a survey conducted in 1991, it was found that about 96 per cent of eggs and 98 per cent of
meat of chicken were produced by small to medium poultry farms in Bangladesh (Huque and Stem
1993). It is estimated that there are approximately 140 millions of poultry in the country. More than
130 hatcheries are producing 3.4 millions of day-old-chicks per week. Thirty thousands commercial
broiler and layer farms supplying 0.26 millions metric tons of poultry meat and 5210 millions table
eggs per year (M. Rahman 2003). These farms play a vital role in economic development of the
country by reducing malnutrition, poverty and unemployment. However, in the recent years, many
small to medium sized farms are losing their interest in poultry business and many have even dropped
out. The aim of this study was to find out the possible problems faced by the small to medium size
poultry farms in Bangladesh and the reasons for reluctant attitude of the poultry farmers towards their
business.

Scenario of Poultry Farms in Bangladesh

Fig 01: Small to Medium poultry farms in Bangladesh (Source: Savar Thana, Dhaka District)

Fig 02: Sick poultry farms facing problems (Source: Savar Thana, Dhaka District)

Materials & Methods

A questionnaire and interview based study was conducted among 450 small to medium size poultry
farmers and 205 Veterinary medicine seller randomly selected from different districts of Bangladesh.
The farmers were categorized according to their poultry farm sizes as follows: (i) Small farmers
(average flock size of 1000 birds) (ii) Medium farmers (average flock size ranging from 1001 up to
2000 birds) and (iii) Large farmers (average flock size of more than 2001 birds). Accordingly, 368
and 82 farmers were places in small and medium category respectively. Selected farmers were asked
to fill up the questionnaires prior to direct interviews conducted by properly trained surveyors. Data
collected from the farmers were arranged in appropriate tabular forms and data analysis was
performed using Microsoft Excel version XP software.

Results & Discussion

Out of 450 farmers 428 (95%) farmers cannot select appropriate chicks as per their requirements.
Among them, 368 (82%) have small farms and 60 (13%) have medium-sized farms. They were not
able to select appropriate chicks mostly due to lack of adequate supply of high quality chicks in their
territory. For selecting chicks, farmers are also influenced by the chick suppliers/traders/dealers.
In Bangladesh, inadequate funds and subsequent loans are the main constraint to most of the
farmers. Because of poverty, they do not have financial access to run a poultry business smoothly.
Feed seller/dealers forcedly push so called nutrient ready feed through credit facilities. Recently
farmers are bound to buy chicks and feed from same traders. 383(87%) farmers are bound to use feed
as per the wish of feed suppliers.
Commercial poultry farming requires high technical knowledge. Inadequate knowledge about
poultry diets, bio-security and preventive measurement from diseases causes a threat for surviving of
small to medium farmers in Bangladesh. Survey report shows that:

Table 1: Type of Technical knowledge providers for farmers

Technical Knowledge providers No. of Farmers %

Farmer himself 38 8
Nearest Expert Farmer 47 10
Veterinary Chemist/Feed Seller 205 46
Veterinary Company Representative 34 8
Poultry Consultant/Veterinary 126 28
Doctors/Nutritionist
Total Number of Farmers 450 100

Appropriate diagnosis and judicious use of medicine are the prime concern for treating diseases
of poultry, but 338 (78%) farmers use medicine as per the direction of veterinary medicine sellers like
veterinary chemists and veterinary company representative.
Small to medium farmers face two types of risk in poultry production. One is production risk,
another is price risk while selling the birds in the market. 414 (92%) respondents stated that in most
cases they faced the problem of selling their boilers at proper time and the selling price was not up to
their satisfaction due to dependency on brokers/middlemen for marketing their birds or eggs. In the
study area the farmer used different channels to sell their broilers.

Table 1: Different Marketing Channels of poultry farms to sell broilers

Marketing Channels No. of %

Farmers
Farm -------------→ Consumers 8 2
Farm -------------→ brokers-------------→ direct Institutional buyer 28 6
Farm → Middleman → Wholesaler → Middleman → Retailer → Consumer 274 61
Farm → Middle Man --→ Wholesaler --→ Middle Man ---→ Consumer 140 31
Total Number of Farmers 450 100
 To dispense and market human medicines in Bangladesh, medicine shop requires authorized
license. But out of 205 respondents, 201 (98%) veterinary medicine and feed sellers do not have any
authorized license for dispensing medicines. Neither do they bother for getting any authorized license
for dispensing veterinary medicine nor does Government of Bangladesh have pressure upon it. To
earn more profit by selling spurious and less efficient medicine, 176(86%) of veterinary medicine
seller violate directly or indirectly registered veterinary doctors’ prescriptions.
It was also revealed that 351 (78%) small to medium farmers believe that poultry business is
presently at risk in Bangladesh and 396 (88%) of them could not get satisfactory profits from this
business. The findings of the study indicate that most of the farmers are highly dependent on the
brokers and middlemen for smooth running of their poultry business. Due to improper role played by
such persons as chick suppliers, feed suppliers, veterinary medicine sellers and meat/egg buyers, the
small to medium size poultry farmers are facing a lot of problems hampering the growth of small and
medium size poultry industries. A strong policy and risk-free chain business network, aimed at
protecting the concerned farmers, will bring greater success in the poultry sector in Bangladesh.

References
THE WORLD BANK GROUP, (2003), Poverty In Bangladesh: Building On Progress, World Bank
in Bangladesh, South Asia Region, Bangladesh.

BANGLADESH BUREAU OF STATISTICS,(2001) Statistical Yearbooks., Statistics Division,

Ministry of Planning, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

AHMED s and HAMID M A (1991) Status of poultry of production and development strategies in
Bangladesh. Proceedings of the Workshop on Livestock Development in Bangladesh, Bangladesh
Livestock Research Institute, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 16-18,1991.
HUQUE, Q.M.E. and STEM, C. (1993) Current status of poultry production and marketing
systems in Bangladesh. Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council/ USAID/Checchi &
Company Consulting, Inc.
M.RAHMAN (2003) Growth of poultry Industry in Bangladesh, Poverty alleviation and employment
opportunity, 3rd International Poultry Show and Seminar, pp 1-7, Bangladesh Branch: World Poultry
Science Association.