DAIRY FARMING IN MYMENSINGH DISTRICT: RESPONSES TO ECONOMIC SHIFTS IN FEED INGREDIENT PRICES

Dairy Farming and Feed Ingredient Prices

Abstract

The dairy sector in Bangladesh is vital for providing essential food, protein, and employment. Despite significant growth over the past 40-50 years, the sector faces challenges such as low productivity, inadequate feed, and price fluctuations of input, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a purposive sampling approach, primary data was collected from the dairy farmers of Mymensingh district. This study has sought to examine farmers’ perception of feed ingredients price change and their responses to it. The study summarizes the present status of farmers’ perception about the factors causing price changes. Results show the majority of the respondents marked ‘global market trends’ responsibility for the price fluctuations of the feed ingredients with the farmers’ perception score 80.8%, where uncultivated grass, green fodder, urea molasses straw, etc. were stated as the most critical inputs considered by dairy farmers. Mustard oil cake, cattle pellet, and vitamin-mineral premix were the leading ingredients with high price fluctuation according to the respondents. More than three-fifths of the total respondents (65%) undertook adaptation strategies to cope with price fluctuations where ‘bulk purchasing’ was the most chosen strategy to gain economies of scale and reduce costs. Moreover, age and Farmers' Perception of Price Change (FCPI) had a negative and significant impact on the adoption of adaptation strategies, whereas experience had a positive and significant effect on it. However, the results given by the study can assist policymakers in organizing essential training and campaigns for adaptation strategies.