Economics of Cattle Fattening - A Case of Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, more than 90% of people are Muslim. During Eid-Ul-Azha (the Muslims’ highest religious festival) aligned with the whole year, a huge number of cattle were slaughtered. Therefore, the demand for beef cattle is also very high. To trade off the increasing demand, fattening beef cattle is very popular. For this, the research was conducted to investigate cattle fattening profitability and its marketing system. Study areas were selected from three districts, namely, Dhamrai under Dhaka; Kustia Sadar under Kustia and Pachbibi under Joypurhat district considering the concentration of livestock farming and cattle fattening. The data were collected through a structured interview schedule from 90 farmers, 15 beparies and 15 meat sellers by three different sets of questionnaires. Data were collected during the period from July 2018 to August 2018. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis were applied to determine the factors that affect profitability. From the analysis, about 53% of farmers practiced cattle fattening the whole year and 47% of farmers reared only before Eid-Ul-Azha. The average benefit-cost ratio was estimated at 1.25, which implies that beef cattle fattening is a profitable enterprise. The coefficients of the variable treatment cost, feed cost, and labor cost were significant at a 1% level indicating a positive association with profitability. The average net return of bepari was BDT 1,964 and the average net return of meat sellers was found BDT 1,944. The most dominant marketing channels were identified as (i) Farmer-Bepari-Meat seller-consumer, and (ii) Farmer-Bepari-Consumer. But the preferable channel was Farmer-Consumer. Because farmers were able to maximize profit through this channel, even marketing efficiency was found highest in this channel. The study recommends the provision of appropriate education and training and improving access and availability of market information to reduce the challenges of establishing sustainable cattle fattening practices in Bangladesh.