WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN TRADITIONAL DAIRYING IN SOME SELECTED AREAS OF RANGPUR DISTRICT.

Abstract

In Bangladesh rural women play a significant rule in animal husbandry and allied fields. There are some studies conducted on women participation in dairying in different areas of Bangladesh. But so far no study has been conducted to know the percentage of rural women engaged in dairying in this study area. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to know the extend of involvement of farm women and other family members in the decision making in relation to feeding, management, health care and marketing. For the study, five villages under Mithapukur upazilla in Rangpur district were selected namely Shahapara, Horipur, Mirzapur, Sarkerpara and Durgapur. From each village, 20 families were selected using random sampling techniques. Questionnaires were prepared and necessary information was collected. From the information obtained it was observed that, the mostly 65% house wives are involved in dairying and they are of middle ages between 30-40 years. These women are mostly illiterate 68% and only 11% could read and write. It was also observed that in decision making regarding feeding and management women had highest participation 29.6% and 34.9% respectively, while in breeding, health care and marketing their participation were 15.75%, 11% & 8% respectively. Besides, in case of milking, manure disposal, milk selling and watering women had their participation of about 26%, 66%, 26% and 80% respectively.