Agroecological, land-elevation and socioeconomic determinants of raising livestock in Bangladesh

This paper determines the influence of agroecological, land-elevation and socioeconomic factors in the raising of different types of livestock in Bangladesh using nationwide sub-district level data from two Agriculture and Livestock Censuses of 1996 and 2008, by applying a simultaneous equations model. Results reveal that socioeconomic, land-elevation and agroecological factors exert significant but varied influence on the type of livestock raised by householders. The number of cattle, goat/sheep and poultry raised per household are significantly higher for medium and small farms as well as for wage-labour households. Cattle raised per household is significantly higher for non-farm households, whereas poultry raised is significantly lower. Gross-cropped area, literacy rate and research and development (R&D) investment significantly influence the number of cattle raised per household, whereas population density negatively influences the number of goat and poultry raised per household. The number of cattle and goat/sheep raised per household is significantly higher in the Old Himalayan Floodplain, whereas poultry-raising is significantly higher in the Eastern Hills and seven other agroecologies. Raising all types of livestock is significantly lower in low-lying areas. The number of cattle raised per household is significantly higher at high land elevation, but significantly lower in medium-low land and low-lying areas. On the other hand, the number of goat/sheep and poultry raised per household is significantly higher in medium-high land areas and significantly lower in low-lying areas. The policy implications of these results will be relevant to investments in R&D, education, tenurial reform and measures to promote different types of livestock suited to specific agroecology and land-elevation levels.