Economics of beef cattle production in selected areas of Bangladesh.

Almost all beef cattle in the study area were produced by small-holder farmers. The beef cattle were raised in an extensive way for use of some draught power and wealth accumulation purposes. Inputs availability is a major challenge for farmers associated with their poor resource utilizing capacity which limit beef cattle productivity. This study reports a survey which was conducted to describe the beef cattle production elasticity and resource use efficiency of small-scale farmers in Bangladesh. Eighty farmers raising beef cattle in Sirajgong and Gazipur districts were randomly selected for an interview in 2011. On an average the interviewed farmers raised 9 beef cattle per household. A herd size of at least 5.66 and 20.4 number of beef cattle head in Gazipur and Sirajgonj was required to cover the cost of production at the prevailing prices. Among sample farmers, Gazipur farmers gave higher amount of feed to their beef cattle, compared to farmers of Sirajgonj. The production costs per beef cattle head were the highest in Gazipur mainly due to higher input use and lower number of beef cattle. The annual net return per beef cattle head was estimated at Tk. -576.14 and Tk.2919. 27 in Gazipur and Sirajgonj respectively. The undiscounted benefit cost ratios (BCR) were 0.98 and 0.91 in Gazipur and Sirajgonj over total cost respectively. Therefore, the beef cattle farmers had ample opportunities to increase output by using more of those inputs. A positive relationship between farm size and amount of feed use was found in the study areas. Key word: Beef cattle, Production Inputs and Returns Livestock production is considered to be an important pathway out of poverty for the rural poor in developing countries (Kristjanson et al. 2010) and worldwide 1 billion poor people depend on livestock for their livelihoods (McDermott et al. 2010). Livestock are living assets contributing to nutrition, food security and building wealth. The increasing consumption of meat in some developing countries, related to rising household income and rapid urbanization, has been well documented (Delgado, 2003). In Bangladesh, the livestock sector plays an important role in economy and agricultural development. Livestock being one of the four components of agriculture (such as crops, livestock, forest and fisheries) plays a vital role in national economy, contributing about 1.84% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (Bangladesh Economic Review, 2015). Livestock plays an indispensable role in the traditional agriculture as well as largely in the subsistence economy of Bangladesh (Haq, 1992). The landless and marginal farmers largely depended on livestock for their survival (Ahmed, 1992). The total livestock population in Bangladesh is estimated at 23.341, 1.45, 25.276, 3.143, 249.0 and 47.253 million cattle, buffalos, goat, sheep, chicken and duck respectively (BER, 2015). The sound growth of beef cattle industry will ensure the significant impact of ruminant sub-sector on the livestock sector as a whole. The local beef cattle industry is slow in its development as compared to the non-ruminant industry such as poultry. The beef and other ruminant enterprises are unable to compete for the available resources and funds. The slow production of beef has resulted in dependency on the