Livestock Development in Coastal Bengal with ...

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R. K. Ashram Krlshi Vigyan Kendra. PO: Nimpllh Ashram- 743 338, West Bengel. Sundarbans ..... The authors express their sincere thanks to Dr. D. K. Basu and ...
J. Indian Soc. Coastal agrtc. Res., 17(1 & 2). 229 · 234 , 1999

Livestock Development in Coastal Bengal with Special

Reference to Sundarbans

S. S. GHOSH Zonal Co-ordination Unit, leAR-Zone-II, NBSS&lUP Campus Sail lake, Sactor-II, Block - OK, Calcutta - 700 091

00'

D. SAHA and P. CHATTERJEE R. K. Ashram Krlshi Vigyan Kendra PO: Nimpllh Ashram- 743 338, West Bengel Sundarbans , southern-most part of Wes t Bengal, Is situated within 21°30' N to

23° latitude and 88° E to 89° E longitude, and Is the larges t delta In the world. The are a Is monocropped and land usa pattern sufferl from poor productivity duo to many physical and soclo-economic conSlra l nts. Livestock plays a very

important role In increasing the income of farm lami'v of the .rea. However, fa r mers give less attention for rearing of livestock for th eir poor biological and ecomomic productivity. The present communication deals with the result s of d iffe rent case studies in four developmental blocks of the Sunderbans. It was reveale d that introduction 01 appropriate breed of livestock coupled w ith A. I. In cattle, contr ol o f diseases of goats and pou ltry, and exploitation of economic traits of Bengal breed sheep (Garole), etc . may augment the economic growth o f th e farmers. Further, sporadic outbreaks of FMD In cattle, high mortality o f goats and p o ultry, and shortage of feed and fodder have been Identified as future points 01 intervention and research. (K ey words: Sundarbans. LIvestock development. Product/ully, ConstralnlS. Diseases. Markeling}

"

Livestock rearing In the southern part of West Bengal Is an age-old practice. This has received an Impetus due to the Intervention of Govt. and non-Govt.organlsation in the fi eld of artificial Insemination . poultry rearing: control of cattle and goat diseases, rearing of garolc sheep. etc. According to the livestock census (1994). it Is rcvealed that the whole of South 24 parganas district are having a population of 11 .48.700 cattle, 24,900 buffaloes. 10.1 7 .800 goats, 2.08.400 garole sheep, 47,500 pigs. 28, 62.400 fowls and 13.33,500 ducks (Anon., 1997). It Is reported that the entire district produces 1.62 lakh tons of milk and 351.5 million eggs per annum. The Sundarbans region Is the coasta l part of We st Be ngal co n s isti n g of 13 develop'!'enlal blocks under South 24

Parganas district and 6 development blocks under North 24 Parganas district. In thi S region both Govt. OrganisatiOn (GO) and Non-Govt. Organisation (NCO) are concerned with the development of livestock population. In spite of varied environmental constraints due to differen t micro -situations in th e Sundarba ns the s mall and marginal farmers of this region have paid much attention in rearing of livestock as an alternative Itvehood. This communication Is aimed to describe th e s tatu s of different lives tock In lhe 4 developmental blocks of Sundarbans under South 24 Parganas dJStrlct. I.e. Jaynagar-I, Jaynagar-Jl . MathUTapur-1 and Mathurapur­ II . Attempts to focus on theconstraint5 towards adoption of different livestock technologies by the loca1 fanners has also been made.

S. S. Ghosh e! al.

230 MATERIALS AND METHODS

The present study was conducted In the Sundarbans area 121 0 30' N to 23° N latitude 'and sao E to 89° E longitude). The duration of the study period was from 1994· 1997. Seventeen villages were randomly selected from four blocks, I.e. Jaynagar-I, Jaynagar­ II, Mathurapur-t and Mathurapur-i1 for the study. Formal survey as well as non-formal survey like pa rtiCipatory rural appraisal (PRA) with the tools like semi- structured interviews (SS!), ma t rix ra n king and seasonality have been used (ollowlng Schon hut and Kievelitz (1994) and Anon . (l992). Stud ies have also been made to collect Information about the disease occurrence In the domestic livestock through organising clinic centres. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The Sundarbans micro-situations include wide range of environmental fluctuations. The area Is experienced w1th high annual rainfall (approx. 1700 mm) and 80% of Lhls down pou r occu rs during the monsoon. ijlus inundating the entire area resulUng In acute shortage of graZing land. The study areas are highly humid ranging from 64% to 100% R.H. The average temperature of the area varies between 1SOC in peak winter and 39°C In the peak summer. According to census (1981 ·82) the livestock population o n the 4 studied

developmental blocks arc considerably high (Table I) . People of the area are mostly poor and marg.lnal farmers. They have the preference of rearing domestic animals as an alternative sou rce of income. which stabilises their meager Income from the land ­ based cropping system wh ich Is mainly monocrop In nature. Ca ttl e manag eme nt , p r oductiv ity ,and constra ints Cattle In the studied area are reared by two ways. In stall feedlng system excepting in the winter when the animals are allowed to graze on crop residues. dally 5 to 7 kg of freshly cut grass added with dry paddy straw. 250­ 300g of mustard 011 cake (MOC). 1.5 to 2.0 kg of rice gruel. and sufficient quantity of salts are provlded. The 2tMr way of reartng of cattle is tOO% stall feedlng. The cattle are fed with paddy straw alongwlth·!npuls like mung dwni. MOC. molasses and salts. Commercially available vitamins are seldom added to this feed. Cattle are hardly fed with green grass as Ole fanners do not have any source of green grasss. A study on status of milk production was conducted in 17 villages of these developmental blocks . The details of the study are presented In Table 2, which reveal that these villages not only produce good amount of mUk for their own con sumption but also they have marketable surplus. The average productivity of a local breed is ranging between 1.5 - 1.7

Table 1 . Pattern analysis oj livestock population in the studied area

SI. No.

I

2 3 4

Name of the block Jaynagar-I Joynagar· U Malhurapu r· 1 Mathu rapur· 11

{-} not available

Geographl· cal area (sq kml

No. of vlllages

127 17S 148 231

75 269 99 175

No. of catlle 9592 22592 4575 13591

No. of goats 16101 100) 19495 28995 .

No. of poultry birds

No. of other domestic animal

11331

601 63805

19691

I

,.oil Table 2 . Status oj '7!il/{ production oj cow and marketable surplus in 17 villages 51.

V!llage

No.

Number of animals Heifer Bulls I"

Milk production

No. of

Av. Milkl

Av. MUk/

producer

Animal (Iitrel

Producer

(litre)

milk

(litre)

Av. milk consump­ lion in house

Milk s urplus {litre)

(lItre) I.

Jaynaga r -l

I.

J aynagar

2.

D. Barnsat & Kallk"apur

3. 4. 5. 6.

Baharu Sarberla

u. 7. 8. 9.

Sreepur Nautala Jaynagar-n SahaJadapur Nimpith Mayda

54 57

69 70

0 0

88.62 63.10

45 57

1.64 1. 1 1

70 46 47 199

79 32 58 139

0 0 0 0

120 .62 1 17.50 49.87

57 39 40 114

1.72

311 232 155

56 38 121

2 2 0

528.50 273.00

54 72 130

0 6 4

6 1.50

10 94 78 63 39

3 5 6 8 2

286.00

1.97 1.13

1.06

2.12 3.01 1.25

1. 44

2.51

2.55

26.95 32.10

66.67 3\.00

30.62 32.25 17.12 28.00

90.00 85.25

32.75

258.00

IV.

13 . 14. 15. 16. 17.

" 0 n

~ ~

•< •

"" •3 ~

5 0 8 .00



260. 7 5

1.35

2.83 1.47

20.50 12.25 31.00

178.50

go,

62.50 70.50

33 39 79

1.40 1.39 0 .78

1.86 1. 60 0.89

12.00 15.50 20.00

49.50 47.00 50.50

20.95 52.00 77.50 32.70 29.65

29 51 51 39 34

0 .62 0.87 1.31 0.78 0.80

0.72 1.02 1. 52 0.84 0 .87

12.50 21.50 18.50 14.10 15.70

8.45 30 .50 59 .0 0 18.60 13.95

209.50

272 167 143

1..70

1.94

2.04

m.

Mathu rapur·I 10. Krlshnachandrapur 4 4 I I. Mathurapur 45 12. Purba Ranaghat 90

•r­

~

•a"­ ,• •

Mathurapur­1l

Uttar Kashinagar Radh akantapur Golabar l Khar l Raidlghl

34 60 59 42 37

-'" w

S. S. Ghosh ef al.

232

Iitres per day. The farmers usually get milk up to 6 months from a cow but It has also been found that the fanners are taking the benefit of A. I. centres situated In their villages (fable 3) for upgrading the cattle population: From an upgraded cow the far mers of this area are

receiving an average production of 8 to 10 litres of milk per day per cow. Milking continues for a period of 8 to 10 months depending on the

individual animal. They spend average Rs. 50001- per cow per year and In return they earn Rs. 12.000/' per cow per year. The selling price of milk varies between Rs. 8.50 to 9.50 per litre. The villages like Nlmplth, Mayda, Sa hajadapur a nd Na utala have a surplus production (Tab le 2) for which they have approached the Oovt. to form a Co-operaUve Society for better marketing arrangement.

T able 3 . A. I. and veterinary fucllities in 4 development blocks Name of the block

Jaynagar-J Joynaga r. 1l Mathurapur· 1 Mathurapur · [j

No. of village surveyed

No. of vlJ1ages with veterinary facilities

No. of village with Al Centres

6

2 2

2 2 3

3 3 3

Major cattle diseases which have been identiOed In the Sundarbans region are of differen t types, such as bacterial. viral. protozoan and pa rasitic. Besides, occurrence of calcium deficiency, fresh m ineral deficiency !lind vitamin A deficiency are also noticed In the outdoor clinic centres run by Ntmplth KVK. A severe outbreak of foot and mouth disease (F'MD) was noticed among the vaccinated cross'- bred cattle (Holstein and Jersey cross) of different age groups and also among the un-vaccinated indigenous cattle and their fo ll owers during April, 1998. Symptom detected was typical lesions in nasopharynx and blister formation 'on the udder surface and tits. The virus type has been detected as '0' t.ype (Basu eta/" 1999) . The failure of J"MD vaccine may be, among different reasons , improper maintenance of cold chain right fr om the storage to its application stage . SporadiC occurrence of anthrax In the cattle of Sundarbans has also been nQUced alongwtth high fever of 1030 and 104°F' causing bloody mucus discharges from the nasal Orifices. Incidence of mastitis is common among the cattle of the region,

3 4­

4

which considerably decreases the milk yield. Farmers are of opinion to pay greater attention of disinfecting the tits after milking rather than ch illing the affected a nimals. Same has been obsclVed byThirunavukkarasu (1996) in Tamt! Nadu coastal area. Poultry producti v ity and c on straints

During early eighties scavenger type of poultry rearing was prevailing in the studied ) areas. Exact data on structured pOUltry were ~ not available durlng 198 1·82 (Table 1). The scenario has been thorough ly changed after the establishment of Krlsht Vigyan Kendra in Nlmpith village under Jayn aga r -ll developmental block. Presently more tha n 400 poultry growers are running their business only in two development blocks. viz. Jaynagar-II and Mathurapur·11. An average production data under on· farm situation shows a 100 bird layer unit can produce 25,000 to 30,000 eggs prior to cull. The cost of production comes to Rs.1250 per 1000 eggs. It Is not economically viable unless the poultry size is much blgg~r than 2000 bi rds. Maintenance of this bigger pOUltry unit is

\

Livestock development in Sundarbans

also difficult fo r the poor an d margina l fa rmers due to s hor tage of space and financing. Ninety-two percent of the poul" growers In the studied area are now rearin8!broiler birds whereas only 8.0% are malntalniI1!layer units. An average on-farm economy shows a net proO I of Rs. SOO per 100 bird broHer unit within a culture period Qf 50 to 55 days. The birds attain an average marketable s ize of 1.35 kg during this period. Obviously, th e environmental factors like high humidity (more than 90%). moisture stress, high temperature during peak summer affect the productiVity of the broiler units. During the monsoon months damping of Utter Is a crucial problem faced by the growers. Disease and marketi ng system are the major constraints observed In the studied area. Knowledge gap of ranikhet disease fRDl has been minimised through training and extension. Severity of ranlkhet has a lso decline d compared to ea rl y days. b ut .gamboro disease with mixed infection. viral he:patitis and chronic respiratory disease (CRt")) have become much common now- a­ days which Is also the main reason for loss In broiler fa rming . Bes ieds. marketing channel