|
Objectives
The project aimed at enhancing the productivity of and the
incomes derived from small-stock-keeping in the homestead compound by
the landless and the poor and specifically by women. This was also expected
to contribute to stemming the country-wide decline in the per capita availability
of animal protein.
A second aim was to develop and test ways of improving the
nutrition of cattle, goats and poultry, through, inter alia, increases
in forage production at the farm level, by treatment of feed resources
to enhance their nutritive value and by improved animal management systems.
Activities
- Poultry, duck and goat development
- Adaptive research
- Support of NGOs
Outcome
 The
project had a positive impact on beneficiary poultry production. The number
of poultry enterprise units established was 400 000, exceeding the appraisal
target by 49%. The poultry population increased in the project area by
approximately 5 million, egg production by 360 million and meat production
by 2 400 tons. The operations of vaccinators decreased poultry mortality.
The country-wide replication of the poultry model
developed through the project is a reflection of the project's success.
The project activities enhanced the poultry production
skills and the access to technology and capital of beneficiaries, thereby
increasing their incomes. The private-sector market network was improved,
eliminating the scope for exploitation by middlemen and benefiting rural
families. Incremental employment and cash savings improved nutrition by
increasing the consumption of meat and eggs and also helped beneficiaries
to meet other needs, including education for their children, the acquisition
of assets, better houses and sanitation. Women, who apparently constituted
98% of the project beneficiaries, enjoyed increased status, confidence,
awareness and financial viability.
Organizations
and people
| The inability
of governmental institutions to deliver effective support services
to rural people was identified as a factor limiting the development
of agricultural activities, especially in the poultry sector. However,
prior to the project, the Department of Livestock Services (DLS)
and the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), an NGO, had
piloted a successful village-based poultry model, which had enhanced
outreach capacity of the DLS through NGO support based on participatory
and self-help principles. This model was therefore adopted by the
project to support the expansion of the poultry sector and to strengthen
local institutions. |
| Planned
|
|
Achieved
|
| To provide funds to the
participating NGOs, covering both operating costs (including field
staff salaries, the rental, furnishing and maintenance of 80 area
offices, and travel) and poultry development activities. This would
enable the NGOs to identify the target group members, organize them
into functional groups, train them as women vaccinators, chick-rearers,
key rearers, model rearers, feed mixers and mini-hatchery owners,
and provide motivational follow-up for three years.
To provide participating NGOs with funds to finance the credit requirements
of the training programme beneficiaries through the Bangladesh Krishi
Bank.
To provide technical assistance, including a poultry-hatching-and-breeding
expert, a poultry nutritionist, an expert in monitoring and evaluation
and an applied research planner.
To strengthen the monitoring and evaluation unit in the DLS. |
|
The project provided the
NGOs with USD 2.92 million for the identification, organization
and training of the target group members. About 400 000 poultry
units had been established by the end of the project. The NGOs had
trained 8 013 poultry workers (100% of the target), 3 415 chick
rearers (107%), 377 495 key rearers (103%), 4 208 model rearers
(117%), 1 647 feed sellers (103%) and 423 mini-hatchery owners (88%).
The project provided total credits of USD 3.26 million to poultry-related
enterprises.
By completion, the project had provided a total of 43 man-months
of expatriate technical assistance and 54 man-months of local technical
assistance.
No information is currently available on the strengthening of the
DLS monitoring and evaluation unit. |
Risk
management
| Planned
|
|
Achieved
|
| To establish marketing
groups, consisting of a maximum of three persons per union, and
to provide them with credit for the purchase of equipment and as
working capital.
To support feed-mixer enterprises by providing them
with credit for the purchase of equipment and for use as working
capital.
|
|
The project failed to
establish the proposed marketing groups and was therefore unsuccessful
in establishing a complete cycle of producers and market operators.
Feed mixers received credit through the project. However,
their role within the model was compromised by the establishment
of a feed mill by BRAC, the proliferation of private-sector outlets
and the small margins between buying and selling prices. |
Animal husbandry
| Livestock
raising was found to be integral to rural households in Bangladesh,
representing an important source of income for the rural poor. However,
productivity was low due to the lack of suitable shelter, feed and
improved breeds, combined with poor nutrition and a high incidence
of disease. |
| Planned
|
|
Achieved
|
| To provide funds for adaptive
research, focusing on animal husbandry for poultry, ducks, goats,
sheep and cattle, by individual scientists from the Bangladesh Livestock
Research Institute, the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute,
or the participating NGOs. Sheep, goat and duck-production models
suitable for the target group were to be developed.
To rehabilitate, operate and enhance incubator use
in six existing hatcheries for the production of day-old chicks.
To transform up to seven existing poultry farms into small-scale
hatcheries and facilitate their operation.
To improve the delivery of support to local farms'
breeding ducks and small ruminants. Duck, goat and sheep rearers
were to be given appropriate training and credit for the establishment
and management of their enterprises. |
|
Five adaptive research
studies were conducted by the Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute
with technical inputs from the project. Studies were related to
poultry production increases under various conditions, the production
of Salmonella and Gamboro vaccines, and the on-farm performance
of Black Bengal goats fed on limited supplements or treated with
anti-helminthic drugs. The production of Gamboro vaccine at the
Central Veterinary Research Laboratory was not realized due to the
absence of the scientist and the lack of the antigen and necessary
laboratory equipment.
The capacities of six existing hatcheries were enhanced
through rehabilitation and expansion.
Five existing poultry farms were transformed into
functional small-scale hatcheries.
Duck-rearing was supported, but the DLS did not provide
any assistance for the promotion of goat and sheep development.
Small ruminant pests discouraged project beneficiaries from taking
up the activities. Adaptive research included goat development initiatives,
but the free-grazing system caused widespread mortality due to parasitic
infestations. |
Lessons learned
- Thanks to their focused and targeted approach, NGOs are especially
successful at promoting small-scale poultry and livestock production,
in particular where public institutions lack the capacity to provide
these services.
- Access by the target group to collateral-free, easily available credit
at a reasonable rate of interest is crucial to the development of viable
small-scale enterprises. The interest rate regime should be harmonized
with the disbursement mechanism to enable NGOs to work without financial
pressure.
- The risks associated with natural disasters like floods and cyclones
and factors such as bio-security, the incidence of new diseases and
the cross-border illegal trade in poultry products should be considered
at the project-design stage.
- In countries where land is scarce, population densities are high and
animal production competes for land with food crop production, small-scale
poultry enterprises represent an optimal solution for income generation
among the poor.
- Beneficiary participation should be voluntary rather than engineered
by the NGOs. Group members were not always offered the opportunity to
take up the activities for which they thought they were most well suited.
- Project design should always consider the long-term sustainability
of activities. By the end of the project, some enterprises within the
model risked becoming redundant.
- There is a need to remove market imperfections such as illegal cross-border
trade, which threatened the profitability and sustainability of the
enterprises.
Poultry model
The poultry model consisted of six interlaced activities:
- Chick rearers raised day-old chicks in a caged environment
for eight weeks, selling them off to key rearers and model rearers within
the same village development committee.
- Key rearers raised the eight-week-old pullets to maturity under
a scavenging system. The primary outputs were eggs and culled-for-age
birds, which were marketed.
- Model rearers raised the eight-week pullets of improved breeds
under a semi-confined system, with balanced feed rations for the production
of hatching eggs, which were supplied to mini-hatcheries.
- Mini-hatcheries produced day-old chicks, under improved production
systems, for sale to chick rearers.
- Feed mixers prepared balanced chicken rations from locally
available feed materials supplemented by purchased nutrients.
- Poultry workers provided preventive health cover to rearing
units.
|
| Project information |
Total cost: USD 15.08 million. Livestock cost (as a
percentage of total): 56%. Duration: The project was approved on 4 April
1991. Project implementation commenced in July 1991 and was originally
due to end on 30 June 1997. The effective closing date was 31 December
1999.
Beneficiaries: the project targeted 2.44 million households, of which about
0.4 million became direct beneficiaries. The target group consisted of
two sets of households:
- the hard-core poor, owning or operating less than 0.2 ha of land and
dependent on the sale of manual labour as a source of income; and
- absolutely poor marginal farmers, owning or operating up to 0.8 ha
of land.
|
|
|
