Profitability and problems of farmers in duck farming: a study on haor areas in Bangladesh

The present study was endeavored to focus useful information on profitability and problems of farmers in duck farming. A structured interview schedule was used to collected data from 100 randomly selected duck farmers (10% of total population) during January to May 2020 from haor areas i.e., Tarail and Itna upazila (sub-district) under Kishoreganj district in Bangladesh. Data were analyzed by utilizing both descriptive and inferential statistics. According to the analysis, the total cost of 550 ducks was assessed to be Tk. 72889.8 per lot. Average gross return, average gross margin and average net returns for 550 ducks were assessed to be Tk. 121720, Tk. 57,725.7 and Tk. 48830.2 per lot, respectively. The benefit cost ratio for duck raising was calculated to be 1.67. The findings indicated that majority of the duck farmers (74%) faced high problems, while 21% and 5% of them faced medium problem and low problem in duck farming, respectively. Among difficulties of the duck growers, outbreak of disease was the most common problem followed by high price of feed in the study area. Correlation analysis indicated that out of nine selected characteristics of the duck farmers level of education, family size, annual income, and social mobility showed negative significant relationship with the problem confrontation while the mortality of ducks and number of ducks reared by the farmers showed positive significant relationship for the same. The study revealed some prospects for the policymakers to address the above significant characteristics for profitable duck farming through lessening problems.