Small Scale Dairy Farming for Livelihoods of Rural Farmers: Constraint and Prospect in Bangladesh

The study was conducted to explore the experiences of small-scale dairy producers in Barura, Comilla, Bangladesh, with the particular focus on the Small-scale dairy farming for livelihoods of rural farmers. The aim of the study was to determine the role of small scale dairy cattle farming in improving their life styles, identifications of the problems of dairy cow raising and to provide suggestions for their improvement. A total of 100 farmers were selected where 40 and 60 for small scale-dairy farming/households (SCD/SCH) and nonfarming households (NFH), respectively. The Data were collected through face to face interviewing and personal visits. Results showed that farming system, breeding policy and veterinary services has significant (p<0.01) roles in production performances between the SCH and NFS and housing also has significant (p<0.05) contribution. There were no significant relation on other variables such as sex, age, marital status and education of the producer in production performances. Surveyed reports showed that disease was the most important dilemma followed by unpredictable milk market and high prices of drugs for household income. This research is important in relation of farm-level policy and decision making, government program analysis, performance analysis, and resource allocation to small-scale dairy farming.