Abstract
The study was conducted on poor farmers' access to milk market for sustainable dairy farming in char areas of northern Bangladesh. It was carried out to assess the impact of sustainable dairy farming on food security and livelihood of dairy farmers in the study areas. From Sariakandi, Islampur and Belkuchi upazilas under Bogra, Jamalpur and Sirajganj districts, a total of 600 farmers were selected randomly where 300 farmers were provided with project support and considered as treated group and 300 farmers were without project support and considered as controlled group. Data were collected two times through direct interview method from the selected farmers according to the survey schedule. The first-hand information was gathered during the period from May to July, 2009 before project intervention and after intervention, data were collected during the period from June to August, 2011 of the selected farmers. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics using SPSS program. Linear regression analysis was done to identify the factors influencing food security status of farming households. DID method was applied for analyzing the impact of dairy farming on treated and controlled groups. It appeared from the results of the study that BCR was 1.10 and 2.13 before project intervention while it was 1.40 and 2.69 after the intervention on the basis of full cost and cash cost, respectively. Thus dairy farming appeared profitable in the study areas both before and after intervention, but the profit was comparatively high after the intervention of the project. It was observed that the dairy farmers had no source of information about the price and its variation. After the formation of group, in Sariakandi and Islampur, each group selected a common place where all members brought their milk at a given time and from these collection points Gowala used to collect the milk and sell it to the target markets. The market access and expansion of the poor dairy farmers had an opportunity to expand their milk market locally as well as nationally. Finally, farmers at present appeared to have better accessibility in the milk marketing system than they were before. It was found that after the project intervention food insecurity problem of farm households had been lessened than before. Households living above the poverty line before the project intervention were 39%, 31% and 37% and after the intervention these were 54%, 39% and 53%, for Sariakandi, Islampur and Belkuchi upazilas, respectively. From the logit model it was found that number of livestock, communication with veterinary doctors, proximity to market, non-farm income and household size significantly contributed to determine food security in the char areas. Dairy farming seems to be the driver of poverty alleviation in the study areas. Before the project intervention average annual income and expenditure of the treated group were Tk. 42594 and Tk. 50276 while after the intervention, these were Tk. 64316 and Tk. 66800, respectively. The access to human capital, social capital, natural capital, physical capital and financial capital for the treated farmers was increased due to the intervention of the project in comparison with the controlled farmers. The extent of lack of storage facilities was higher than other problems in Sariakandi and Belkuchi upazilas for the treated farmers which were quite different from that of the controlled farmers. The char dwellers living in remote areas and facing higher extent of vulnerability showed greater performance to sustain their life with frequent odds throughout. Finally, a set of policy guidelines for livestock development in char areas have been proposed for policy makers, researchers, extension workers and NGOs, assuming that it will be helpful for the farmers in the study areas.