Issue 2

The present study is an attempt to assess the impact of SSS (Society for Social Service) credit on women beneficiaries of Gouripur upazila at Mymensingh district in Bangladesh. The study revealed that both annual income and expenditure of the respondent households have increased after joining the micro credit program of SSS. Average family size of agriculture and petty business enterprises were 4.69 and 4.21. Average annual income of agriculture and petty business enterprises were Tk 80726.57 and 74864.14 respectively while average annual expenditure of agriculture and petty business enterprises were Tk 78776.65 and 67912.37 respectively. It was evident in the case of children education (60.00 percent), labor employment (40.00 percent), crop production (55.00 percent), taking care of children (30.00 percent) and rearing poultry birds. The highest (66.67 percent) proportion of the respondents reported insufficiency of credit supply was a moderate problem and only 33.33 percent of them reported this not at all a problem to them. The interest rate charged by the SSS as a major problem, 36.67 percent of the respondents opined as high. About 48.49 percent of the respondents reported that burden of old debt was not at all a problem while 1.67 percent said that it was a great problem to continue their existing activities. The finding shows that SSS credit program encouraged the women beneficiaries to participate in the social development activities in the study area.

The present experiment was conducted in order to investigate the use of agrochemicals in freshwater aquaculture with emphasis on fish health management. The selected area was Mahespur upazila under Jhenaidah district and the study duration was six months. The main group was fifty fish farmers and the data were collected through interview with fish farmers and key informants (chemical seller). Ten categories of chemicals were identified that are used by fish farmers for various purposes such as pond preparation, water quality management, controlling diseases, supplying oxygen, killing fish predators, Ten pharmaceutical companies were found to provide the agrochemicals to fulfill the farmers need. These companies are Novartis Anmal Health Ltd, Fishtech (BD) Ltd, SK+F BD Ltd, Renata Ltd, ACI Animal Health, Opsonin Pharma Ltd, Eon Animal Health Products Ltd, Square Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Sciencetech Agro Industries Ltd, Rals. In the study area some kinds of diseases were founded such as Epizotic Ulcerative Syndrome (EUS) in Rohu (Labeo rohita), Catla (Catla catla), Mozambique tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), Black spot in Stinging cat fish, skin diseases, gill damage, tail and fin rot in Yellow tail catfish (Pangasius pangasius). For highest stocking density tilapia and pangus were mostly affected by diseases in winter. Farmers use various chemicals such as for water quality management agriculture lime, Geotox, JV Zeolite, Mega Zeo Bio, Aquakleen and Biomin, as antibiotic they use Novamix 101, Erocot, Captor, Oxysentin 20%, Renamycin, Aquamycin and Oxysentin 20% are antibiotics with different trade names were seen in the market as well as used by the fish farmers in the study area. The fish farmers use a wide variety of disinfectants in freshwater aquaculture. Timsen, Polgard plus, Formalin, Bleaching powder, EDTA are found available in all the shops of Mahespur. Formalin is used to control protozoan diseases. Virex is used to destroy virus and bacteria. Fish farmers use oxygen suppliers to increase the oxygen level in the water body. Oxidizing agent, hydrogen peroxide are major active ingredients of such chemical. The recovery of fish diseases was found 80-90% in the study area. During field observation many problems were identified in case of using agrochemicals which included lack of skill and knowledge of farmers about the application, withdrawal period of agrochemicals and drugs and some adverse effects on fish and human health.

In a subsistence agrarian economy of Bangladesh, domestic food production has an important role to play in the quest for food security. The productivity in the agricultural sector is critically important if agricultural production is to increase at a sufficiently rapid rate to meet escalating demands for food. Bangladesh has pursued for decades a strategic goal of self-sufficiency in rice production. The country passed a major milestone in its efforts to achieve food security in the sense of rice grain availability at the national level at the end of the 1990s. Whatever progress been made would be difficult to sustain it due to high vulnerability of climatic shocks and the growing pressure of population on scarce natural resources thus, yet food security has not been achieved. The present study finds that, rice production is secure in Feni district from Chittagong division. Because rice production is greater than the consumption. On the other hand, Chandpur and Cox’s Bazar district shows production insecurity in the very recent years. But Chittagong district has the production insufficiency from the past to present, because the production is insufficient to meet the demand of the vast population in this area. The study reveals that, the production of Aus rice will be increased in the next 5 years in Chittagong district. Aman rice production will be increased in the next 5 years in the districts namely Feni. Again, Boro rice production will be increased in the next 5 years in the districts namely Cox’s bazar and Feni districts.

The study was designed to explore the women’s empowerment through small-scale dairy farming in Bangladesh. Small-scale dairy farm owners constituted the population of the present study. Among the population, the households who were actively engaged in dairy farming activities more than one year in the selected area of Mymensingh district, they were considered as the sample unit. For data collection, 50 households from the sample unit were randomly selected for interview. Simple percentages were calculated to show the frequency distribution at different categories of variables. Through small-scale dairy farming, rural women were able to increase their confidence and decision-making power with regard to their household and personal care and experienced increased self-esteem, expansion of their social circles, and ultimately enhanced empowerment through the breakdown of traditional socio-cultural norms. Thus, the expansion of small-scale dairy farming in other rural areas of Bangladesh is likely to contribute to the empowerment of more rural women.

Antibiotic residue is a burning question in the present world. Antibiotic remain in edible tissues of poultry as a residue due to indiscriminate use in the veterinary field. Human health is at risk of antibiotics due to poultry edible tissues. In this study, we used broiler chicks as a laboratory animal to investigate the judicial use of amoxicillin antibiotic for human health concern. Chicks were reared accordingly and on day 14 the chicks were randomly divided into three groups (n=6) namely control (group A), discriminate (group B) and indiscriminate (group C). At the age of day 16, amoxicillin treatment was started and continued for seven days for discriminate group (Group B) and 15 days for indiscriminate group. In case of discriminate group, seven days withdrawal period was properly maintained, whereas, no withdrawal period was maintained in case of indiscriminate group. In control group, no positive samples were detected by thin layer chromatography (TLC) analysis, whereas, the amoxicillin intensity in liver, kidney, thigh muscle and breast muscle were positive by TLC as 57.82%, 52.30%, 45.18% and 49.96% respectively for indiscriminate group. Similarly 46.81% liver, 44.65% kidney, 29.27% thigh muscle and 32.73% breast muscle were the amoxicillin intensity in discriminate group. The level of amoxicillin were found significantly different between control & discriminate, control & indiscriminate and discriminate & indiscriminate groups by TLC analysis. Therefore, amoxicillin residue present in both discriminate and indiscriminate group but the intensity percentage (%) was highest in case of indiscriminate group indicates high residual concentration.