Role of Information and Communication Technology in Livestock Extension in Bangladesh – An overview

Abstract

The paper reviews the uses of ICT as a management tool for livestock extension services in Bangladesh. Livestock sector is very precious for a developing country like Bangladesh. In most developing countries, livestock is the most important economic activity providing food, employment, foreign exchange and raw materials for industries. ICT has been used in abroad widely for the study and improvement of various aspects of livestock production, research and education. In developed countries ICT is being successfully used for the sustainable livestock management, precision livestock farming, livestock disease control and diagnosis and treatment through ICT aided instrumentation. Livestock resources necessarily encompass animal health care and welfare, quality production factors and effective rearing to keep pace with expansion of entrepreneurship related to concerned industries. Most of the livestock are managed traditionally and production is unsatisfactory. Livestock extension education plays an important role in this context to empower the farmers with appropriate ICT knowledge and skills through various extension education and training programs. The motto of livestock extension services in Bangladesh is to generate, provide, disseminate demand driven, coordinated and decentralized knowledge and technology based livestock extension services for sustainably increased productivity, profit optimization and well-being of stakeholders. ICT tools suggested to use in the institutionalization of livestock extension policy are mobile phone, computer, radio, TV, internet, website, e-mail, multimedia and CDs and that could be used for advisory services on livestock farm management and health care services. ICTs are important tools for learning and dissemination livestock knowledge, but their use is hindered by several factors including unawareness of the radio and television programs and lack of computer skills. Despite of all constraints of under Bangladeshi condition the ICT is spreading with its own pace and in future the process will speed up. It seems that in near future there will be sound platform for communication and service delivery in rural area through the ICT based devices and value added services