Role of women in household income through small ruminant rearing at Chattogram district of Bangladesh

Abstract

Rural women play a key role in small ruminant (sheep and goat) production. The present study was carried out at Chattogram district of Bangladesh to investigate the role of women in household income through small ruminant rearing. Purposive sampling technique was used to select two upazilas from Chattogram district and three villages from each upazila based on the density of small ruminant population. A total of sixty respondents (where 30 from each upazila) were selected following random sampling method. Data were collected from the respondents using a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and multiple log-linear regression model were used to analyze the data. The results showed that the highest proportion (28%) of women were in the 45-54 age group and nearly half (46%) of the respondents were primary educated. The results revealed that the average family size and farm size of respondents were 5.07 numbers and 0.27 acres, respectively. About 52% of women earned BDT 12000-21000 per annum through small ruminant rearing. The results also indicate that income from sheep and goat, family size, and farm size have a positive and significant effect (P<0.01) on household income. Experience also has a positive and significant relationship (P<0.05) with household income. The coefficient of determination (R2 ) was 0.561, implying that about 56 percent of the variation of household income was explained by the set of explanatory variables in the model. Women faced some constraints, such as diseases, the problem of theft, lack of capital, lack of land, high feed cost, lack of space, lack of training, lack of a good variety, market price fluctuation, and distance to the market for small ruminant rearing. If a proper environment and facilities can be ensured, women would contribute more to their family as well as the national economy.