SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITION , CATTLE PRODUCTION AND MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN A COMMUNITY AT PABNA DISTRICT OF BANGLADESH

Household survey ONBS Pabna cattle Genetic improvement The objective of this study was to clarify the inside of socio-economic condition and cattle production scenario in few areas of Pabna district. Data of socio-economic condition of farmers, cattle population, genotype and overall management were collected from three villages at Bera upazila of Pabna district during August to September in 2017. The collected data were tabulated and analyzed following one-way ANOVA including descriptive statistics. It was observed that the age of farmers were average 42 years with 19 years of average farming experiences. Agriculture was found as primary occupation (47.37%) followed by house wife (15.79%) and animal husbandry (10.53%). Among the total livestock population, 52% (n=286) was cattle with different genotypes but the frequency of local Pabna cattle was highest (70%). About 79% cattle were reared intensively at home because the areas were surrounded by water. The average peak day milk yield (4.56 liters) of local Pabna cattle was significantly (p <0.001) lower than Holstein crossbred (7.43 liters). The cattle feeding system was mostly intensive (77%) followed by semi-extensive (23%) with 60%, 49% and 98% restricted feeding for straw, green grass and concentrate feeds in the studied households. The capacity building training of farmers including different farm oriented facilities would enhance a dairy development programme in those areas from local Pabna cattle which could contribute their socio-economic condition as well.


INTRODUCTION
The socioeconomic condition of an area represents its population density, education levels, income status and other social issues including living status of the inhabitant.Livestock rearing is one of traditions to change few parts of socioeconomic conditions.However, it is a major concern of agricultural sector which contributes a significant part to enhance the GDP and mainly reared in the rural area.
The dairy system in Bangladesh is characterized by small-scale operations, coupled with crops and other on-farm activities.Based on the dairy cattle population, Bangladesh has secured 15 th position among the top dairy cattle populated countries in the world (FAO, 2012).About 80% indigenous cattle population in Bangladesh reared in the rural area with several native cattle genetic resources including local Pabna cattle with low input management system.However, the introduction of artificial insemination is changing the present situation of cattle genotype by crossbreeding or grading up processes.There are several studies conducted on livestock production system in specific selected areas.However, such type of scenario in Char area is very limited for cattle rearing.Therefore, the research was performed to find out the socio-economic of farmers and their the livestock production scenario (especially Pabna cattle) in three selected villages under Bera upazila of Pabna district for the establishment of Open Nucleus Breeding Herd combined with BLRI Regional Station, Baghabari, Sirajgonj through selective breeding among the cattle population.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Data focused on socio-economic condition of farmers, their cattle population including genotypes and overall management system were collected from total 57 households of three selected villages (Umarpur, Khorbagan and Hatail Aralia) under Bera upazila of Pabna district with a pretested survey questionnaire.The collected data were complied, tabulated and analyzed using one-way ANOVA with descriptive statistics by SPSS version 16 (SPSS Inc.Chicago, USA).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The results showed that average age of respondents was 42 years with 7 family members per household (Table 1).The farmers replied their farming experience about 19 years having 25, 132 and 19 decimals of homestead, crop cultivation and grass land, respectively.The average annual income of the farmers was found 83,545 Taka.
Huque (2011) reported a certain number of rural dairy farmers were landless and 61.10% of the respondent had less than 2.49 acres of total land.In a rural area of Mymensingh district, the annual income found 61,260 BDT by Shahjahan and Bhuiyan (2016) which was lower than the present study and indicating comparatively better livelihood in that area.Agriculture was found as the most common primary occupation (47.37%) of respondents followed by house wife (15.79%) and animal husbandry (10.53%) (Figure 1).Agriculture was found as primary occupation followed by labor and business in a rural area of Mymensingh district (Shahjahan and Bhuiyan, 2016).During the survey period, 79% cattle were reared intensively at home because the areas were surrounded by water and 21% found as both home and field rearing (data not shown).The comparative analysis of local Pabna cattle (4.56 liters) and Holstein crossbred (7.43 liters) revealed significant differences (p <0.001) for peak day milk production but not for other studied traits (Table 2).
The peak milk production of indigenous cattle recorded 3.90 liters while 10.92 liters in crossbred with an average 1.86 liters and 5.94 liters in rural areas of Dinajpur district, respectively (Islam et al., 2010)  The cattle feeding system were mostly intensive (77% followed by semi-extensive (23%) in the surveyed households (Figure 3a).Beside ad libitum feeding system (7% HHs for straw and 18% HHs for green grass) restricted or controlled feeding was practiced in straw, green grass and concentrate feeds for 60%, 49% and 98%, respectively (Figure 3b).The allowed green grass was comparatively lower in crossbred than local cattle (Table 3) which might be the reason of grazing facilities of those cattle.

CONCLUSION
It is concluded that socio-economic condition of the farmers in study areas was not well developed.But the farmers were mostly indigenous cattle producer with local management system having better sustainable production and reproductive capabilities than crossbred.Thus capacity building training of farmers to ensure controlled breeding following Open Nucleus Breeding System for selective breeding, efficient feeding, proper housing and health management may enhance the development of local Pabna cattle under the community of dairy development research project areas in Pabna district of Bangladesh.

Figure 1 .Figure 2 .
Figure 1.Primary income sources of respondents in studied areas Hossain et al. (2011) and Deb et al. (2007) reported 1.50 to 1.76 AI per conception in the local cattle varieties in Bangladesh.Mamun et al. (2015) identified 1.21 AI services per conception.All the findings were slightly higher than the present study and these results indicating better production and reproductive efficiency in the cattle populations of our study areas.

Figure 3 .
Figure 3. Feeding system of cattle population in the community

Table 1 .
Farming and income status of farmers in the surveyed areas

Table 2 .
Production and reproduction efficiency of local Pabna and crossbred cattle in survey areas

Table 3 .
Average daily feed intake of cattle population in the study areas