Prospects and Problems of Indigenous Sheep Production in South-Western Coastal Regions of Bangladesh.
Category:- Journal; Year:- 2021
Discipline:- Agrotechnology Discipline
School:- Life Science School
Abstract
The study was conducted to observe the prospects and
problems of sheep farming in southwestern coastal regions of Bangladesh.
Research Method : The study was based on survey data collection. An interview
schedule was prepared to collect data from the sheep farmers keeping the
objectives in mind. Data were collected from 90 sheep farmers who were chosen
randomly from three different upazilas (sub-districts) covering 30 from each.
The duration of data collection was from June to September, 2019. Findings :
The socioeconomic status of the sheep farmers was studied. The majority (61.1%)
of the sheep farmers was middle aged group (31-50 years) and more than half
(52.2%) of the sheep farmers were found illiterate. The average number of sheep
per household was 6.5±3.69. The average age at puberty, age at first lambing,
lambing interval, litter size, lactation length and gestation length of coastal
sheep were 224.78±10.68 days, 388.39±13.13 days, 214.22±9.12 days, 2.84±0.73,
104.22±13.74 days and 149.44±5.27 days, respectively. Majority (94.44%) of the
sheep farmers stated that their income was increased after adopting sheep
farming and about 5.6% of the sheep farmers did not sell their sheep yet. More
than half (56.7%) of the sheep farmers described sheep farming as high prospect
and 43.3% cases it was described as moderate prospect. About 80% of the sheep
farmers stated that their problem facing score ranged between 20 and 39 i.e.,
their problem facing intensity was moderately severe during sheep farming.
Originality/ Value : The results of the study revealed that instead of few
problems faced by the farmers, the prospects of sheep farming in southwestern
coastal region was high as it requires less space and investment and it also
increased the income of the farmers.