BEEF FATTENING PRACTICES AT SITAKUNDA UPAZILA, CHATTOGRAM

Abstract

Due to the declining supply of Indian cattle, beef fattening is becoming more and more popular in Bangladesh. As 91.04% (According to the census 2022) of Bangladeshis are Muslim, a big portion of the fattened cattle is sold during Eid-ul-Adha. Approximately 40% of farmers practice fattening around the year and 60% are seasonal farmers who practice fattening for a period of less than 5 months to 8 months targeting Eid ul Adha. This study was conducted to evaluate the system of beef fattening practices in Sitakunda Upazila of Chattogram district of Chattogram division among small-scale beef fattening farmers. The data were collected through a structured questionnaire among 20 small-scale farmers of Sitakunda upazila from 17th May to 30th May 2023. The study's encouraging results include the fact that 20% of the young, literate generation are currently employed in the beef-fattening industry. At present new beef fattening technologies are being performed by farmers, like UMS(20%) and Silage(5%). Women (5%) are also involved in the farming business with great potential. Farmers dewormed their cattle regularly& this percentage is near 100. Intensive farming (60%) is comparatively more popular than semi-intensive as feeding under confinement prevents loss of energy through movement. The bad news is that 45% of farmers have no grassland. As a result, they rely mostly on expensive concentrate as their cattle feed. Over 65% of farmers are untrained. Approximately 30% of farmers do not vaccinate their cattle. Few farmers feed their cattle incorrectly, like with broiler feed, while some do it traditionally, like with jao vath.