Duck production strategy and profile of duck farmers in the coastal areas of Bangladesh

W Pervin, S D Chowdhury, M R Hasnath*, M J Khan**, M A Ali and S K Raha***

Department of Poultry Science
* Department of Dairy and Poultry Science, Sylhet Agricultural University, Sylhet 3180, Bangladesh
** Department of Animal Nutrition
*** Department of Agribusiness and Marketing, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh 2202, Bangladesh
wp.jotty@gmail.com>

Abstract

Duck production strategy and profile of duck farmers were studied in two coastal districts (Noakhali and Lakshmipur) of Bangladesh. The objectives were to assess the potentiality of existing duck farming practices, provide a profile of the duck farmers and to identify the constraints of duck husbandry in the region. Two upzilas (sub-districts) from each district and 50 farmers from each upazila were selected to conduct a survey.  Data were collected by using an interview schedule.

Results showed that the majority of the farmers (43.25%) belonged to middle aged group. About 32.5% of the farmers received primary education and 32% could sign only. About 90% of the duck farmers were housewives. Most of the respondents (30%) reported that their duck houses were made of tin and wood.  About 91.5% farmers reared indigenous (desi) ducks and they were involved in production by following free range scavenging system. Most of the farmers (95%) fed mixed wet feed and used rice polish, broken rice and boiled rice as supplemental feeds either alone or in combination. Half of the respondents supplemented feeds from both commercial and home-made sources and 47% of the farmers provided their home- grown feed ingredients. Most of the farmers in the study areas opined that scarcity and high price of feed during dry season (summer) were the major constrains affecting production. If they were in a position to use the natural feed resources in an increasing manner, they could overcome the feed problem. Annual egg production of scavenging desi ducks was found to range from 51 to 70 eggs/duck/year and maximum egg production was obtained in the rainy season.  Duck Plague and Duck Cholera were the common diseases threatening duck production but 82.5% farmers had no access to vaccines and therefore failed to vaccinate their birds against the major diseases. The study indicates that there are great potentials for an improvement of native duck population in coastal areas of Bangladesh through nutritional and management engineering.

Key words: duck feed resources, indigenous duck production, farmers’ profile, rearing methods

Introduction

Duck population in Bangladesh has been reported to be 45.12 million (BER 2012) mostly of indigenous type although genetic dilution in some regions has occurred due to distribution of high yielding breeds or strains. Ducks in Bangladesh are traditionally reared as family poultry following free range scavenging system. Farmers, who cannot afford to keep large animals because of the big investment required, can easily maintain a few chicken or ducks within their homestead premises (Das et al 2008). Both duck eggs and meat from indigenous birds are very popular in many regions of the country and therefore play a vital role in the socio-economic structures of pre-dominantly agricultural country. The geographical location, climate and environmental condition of Bangladesh in some northern and southern districts particularly coastal areas are favourable for successful duck production. This is due to availability of natural feed resources in large areas of low lying water reservoirs, abundant marshy land and water logged areas. Natural feed resources like aquatic weeds, various types of insects, tadpoles, earthworms, oysters, snails and crabs, a variety of small fishes, green forages and different fallen grains are good sources of nutrients for ducks. Ducks rank second, next to chicken in the country in terms of total egg and meat production (Ahmed 1986). It has been stated that national share of egg production from commercial and family poultry is almost equal and that of meat production is 60:40 (Bhuiyan 2011) in Bangladesh.  Ducks are efficient converter of agricultural by-products like seeds, grain and grain by-products. In addition, garden left over, insects, green grasses, kitchen wastes, and all other human refusal are better utilized for feeding ducks if properly planned that could otherwise be wasted.

Ducks in the coastal districts (Noakhali and Lakshmipur) of Bangladesh provides self-employment for landless and small farmers. There is a great potentiality of improving the productivity of ducks in coastal and haor (large marshy land) areas through supplementary feeding. Recently, Pervin et al (2013) reported that the growth performance of desi ducklings could be improved by supplementation of improved diets under scavenging system of rearing. Ducks being an important poultry species, can contribute efficiently in increasing egg and meat production in the coastal or low laying areas of southern districts. Literature available with regard to existing duck rearing systems and profile of duck farmers in the coastal districts is not so extensive. The present study was, therefore, aimed at generating information on profile of the duck farmers, assessing potentiality of existing duck rearing practices, and identifying constraints with their relative contribution in duck husbandry in coastal districts of Bangladesh. The ultimate objective was to facilitate future research to augment production of ducks in rural households.

Materials and Methods

The study was conducted in two southern coastal districts of Bangladesh viz: Noakhali and Lakshmipur to obtain current information on duck rearing systems and profile of duck farmers. Two upazilas (sub-districts) from each district (Ramgati and Raipur upazila in Lakshmipur, and Begumgonj and Subarnachar upazila in Noakhali) and five locations from each upazila where duck populations seemed to be higher were selected for this study. The survey areas were Sharifpur, Raigonj, Barola Bazaar, Allahor Dan and Kutubpur in Begumgonj upazila; Salim Bazaar, Renu Bazaar, Purba Char Majid, Bangla Bazaar and Porishker Bazaar in Subarnachar upazila; Rakhalia, Sonapur, Char Mohana, Char Bangshi and Char Lakshmi in Raipur upazila and Torabgonj, Char Kalkini, Kader Panditer Hat, Nabigonj and Jamider Hat in Ramgati upazila. Ten farmers from each location were selected randomly. Thus, a total of 200 (two hundred) duck farmers (100 from Noakhali and 100 from Lakshmipur district) who reared at least 6 (six) ducks as family poultry throughout the year constituted the sample of this survey work.

A questionnaire was prepared to survey the existing duck feed resources and feeding status of indigenous ducks in the study area. It was designed in a simple manner so as to get accurate information from the farmers. Before preparing the final schedule, a preliminary schedule was developed and pre-testing was carried out in the study area. After making some adjustments, a final survey schedule was developed. The survey schedule contained questions for interviewing the duck farmers regarding duck production in the region. Data were collected from face-to-face interviews using the survey questionnaire.  The data collected from Noakhali and Lakshmipur districts were processed and the average value in each season was used in this study. Means, percentages, standard errors of differences of means (SEM) were calculated to explain data scientifically.

Results and Discussions

Profile of duck farmers in the coastal areas

The profile of duck farmers is summarized and presented in Table 1. It was found that the majority of the respondents (43.25%) belonged to middle aged group (36-50 years) and 42.25% were from young farmers (<35 years). About 32.5% of the farmers received primary education, 18% of the respondents had secondary level education and only one per cent of the respondents had higher level of education. This was in close agreement with the observation of Rahman et al (2009) who reported that 39% farmers were from middle-aged category and 30% farmers have got primary level of education, 18% had secondary and 9% had higher education in Noakhali and Lakshmipur districts. Of course, their locations of survey were different. Table 1 also shows that 89.5% of the duck farmers were housewives followed by service holders (2%), businessmen (1%) and others (7.5%). This indicates that rearing of ducks is mostly carried out by women/housewives.
 

Duck resources, rearing methods and housing type in coastal areas

Most of the respondents  (30%) made their duck house with tin and wood, 24% of the farmers made by wood, tin 17.5%, brick 15%, a combination of both tin and brick  one per cent and with other materials 12.5% (Table 2). Majority of the farmers (91.5%) were involved in rearing indigenous (desi) ducks followed by crossbred (7.5%) and hybrid (1%). Halder et al (2007) observed that higher number of farmers (96.88%) were rearing desi but crossbred birds were  lower (1.51%) and hybrid, almost similar to crossbreds (1.60 %) in South and North 24 Parganas in India. In 2005, Rahman et al (2005) found that 82% farmers reared desi, 12% crossbred and hybrid 6% in the same coastal areas.  About 42.5% farmers had 11-20 years of experience in duck raising (Table 2) which was a highest experienced group. Rearing of small flock of 5-10 ducks was most common in these areas. This result was in consistent with an Indian study where Halder et al (2007) found that the majority of flocks comprised of 6-10 ducks. But the present finding contradicted the finding of Islam et al (2002) who reported that 85.6% of the flocks comprised 20-50 ducks within an overall range of 20 to 200 birds in Assam, 200-360 ducks in Tamil Nadu, India (Gajendran et al 1992) and 1000-2000 ducklings in south Vietnam, (Nind and Tu 1998).

On the other hand, Manhanta et al (2001) reported a relatively lower range of flock size 5-100 in Lakhimpur and Dhemaji districts of Assam, India. These results clearly indicate the variability in flock sizes between countries and also in locations within a country. Majority of the farmers reared their ducks following free range scavenging system. It appears that although the system of rearing ducks as family poultry was similar, the flock size varied depending on location and financial ability of the farmers.

Duck feeding in coastal areas

It is evident from Table 3 that 95.5% of the farmers supplied mixed feed (wet mash) to their ducks. Sixty four percent of the respondents used plastic bowl as a feeder and 1.5% farmers did not use any feeder, merely scattered feed ingredients on the ground. Most of the farmers used rice polish, broken rice and boiled rice as supplemental feeds either alone or in combination. About 56% of the farmers gave supplementary feed to their adult ducks amounting to 51-80g/duck/day, while 36.25% farmers supplemented 81-110g/duck/day. Seventy eight percent of the farmers supplemented their ducklings an amount of 31-50 g/duckling/day. During rainy season, Rahman et al (2005) found that 63g supplemental feed was provided by 38% farmers in Noakhali and Lakshmipur districts. The components of supplemental feeds were rice polish, a mixture of    rice polish and broken rice and a mixture of rice polish, broken rice and wheat bran. DLS (1998) also reported that farmers usually supply 62g additional feed/duck/day. It has been reported that the farmers of Sylhet basin supplied 34g extra feed/duck/day in  rainy season  (Hoque et al 2004). The majority of the respondents (44.5%) stored their duck feed (dry feeds) for a month, 30.5% above one month, 15% for 11-15 days  and 10%,  for 5-10 days. This variation was a reflection of facilities of the individual farmers that they had in the regions.

Duck feed resources in two coastal districts of Bangladesh

Table 4 shows that 47% of the farmers provided supplementary feed from their own home grown/prepared ingredients.  Only 3% of the respondents purchased feed ingredients from the local market while 50% used supplementary feeds from both sources. Rahman et al (2009) reported that 17% of the farmers of Noakhali and Lakshmipur districts provided supplemental feed from their own sources and approximately 38% of the respondents purchased feed ingredients from local market while about 46% used supplementary feeds from both sources. The differences in the  result of  the current and earlier study clearly indicate that farmers are gradually switching over to their own resources by reducing dependence on ready feed from feed mill which is expensive.  Paddy, wheat bran, rice polish, broken rice were the locally available major feed ingredients in the study areas. High price and scarcity of feed during dry season were the major constraints affecting duck production in the region. Most of the respondents of the study areas opined that if they could increase the use of natural feed resources as duck feeds and store feed for dry season, overcoming the feed problem could be easier.

Productive characteristics and related information of indigenous (desi) ducks 

The average body weight of an adult duck ranged from 1300 to 1500g. Sixty seven percent of the farmers reported egg production of a scavenging desi duck to be 51-70 eggs/year followed by 71-100 eggs/year for 23% and 30-50 eggs/year for 10% farmers. Salam and Bulbul (1983) and Huque and Ukil (1994) reported egg production to range from 60-91 eggs/duck/year which is in close agreement with the current study comprising reports of 90% of the farmers of this study.

The annual production of local duck as reported by Fouzder et al (1999) was 89 eggs/duck/year in haor (large marshy land) areas. However, variation in different reports has probably arisen from variability in scavenging feed resources and the availability of supplementary feed. Majority of the respondents (76%) reported that maximum egg production was achieved in rainy season as compared to winter (17%) and summer (7%). Most of the farmers opined that the cause of high egg production during rainy season and winter was respectively the availability of natural feed resources abundantly in water logged areas and post harvesting period of paddy that allowed good scavenging resulting in full crop of birds.

Duck Plague and Duck Cholera were the common diseases reported by the farmers of the study areas. Majority of the farmers (82.5%) had no access to preventive measures against the diseases of ducks due to non-availability of vaccines and/or lack of knowledge. Similar constraints were also reported previously by other authors (Rahman et al 2009; Seri Masrah 1996; Tu 1995; Rithamber et al 1986; Biswas et al 2001). The role of extension workers or government vaccinators was found to be lacking in the study areas.

Conclusion

• It may be concluded that women, particularly the housewives, are mostly involved in rearing ducks of indigenous (desi) type and the most housewives are literate people. They follow free range scavenging system. The ducks are mostly fed home-made feed in addition to what they are deriving from scavenging facilities. Most of the farmers provided rice polish, boiled rice and broken rice as supplementary feed ingredients to ducks either singly or in combination. High price and scarcity of feed during dry season were the major constraints affecting duck production. Use of natural feed resources in an increasing manner may help in overcoming the feed problem. Regular vaccination and the use of cost-effective balanced diets can have a decisive effect on duck rearing. Therefore, there are great potentials for an improvement of native duck production in coastal areas of Bangladesh by means of nutritional and management engineering.

Acknowledgement

Funding from ASPS II adaptive research project of the Danish International Development Assistance (DANIDA) is gratefully acknowledged. Dr. Harvey Demaine, Senior Advisor, Regional Fisheries and Livestock Component (RFLDC), Noakhali, DANIDA deserves special thanks for administrative support.

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Received 21 May 2013; Accepted 12 June 2013; Published 1 July 2013

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