ORIGINAL RESEARCH Factors limiting traditional household duck production in Bangladesh M. A. Hoque & L. F. Skerratt & M. A. Rahman & A. B. M. Rabiul Alam Beg & N. C. Debnath Accepted: 19 May 2010 / Published online: 3 June 2010 # Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010 Abstract A cross sectional survey of duck production was carried out in 2002 on 771 traditional, semiscavenging household duck farms on the coastal Island of Hatia. We determined the socioeconomic characteristics of duck farmers and their management systems, identified the factors associated with egg production, and measured the level of selected duck diseases and current preventive strategies. Household family size varied from 1 to 14 individuals and women were the main caretakers of ducks. Around 34% of keepers were illiterate. Most duck products (eggs and meat; 85%) were sold at the local market. Duck houses were poorly ventilated and a variety of bedding materials were used. Feed was available in nearby scavenging areas; however, additional feed was frequently supplied by farmers. Almost all farmers (96%) ranked the rainy season as the best time for rearing ducks due to greater feed availability. The annual egg production was 79 eggs per layer with a weight of 48 g and a hatchability rate of 87%. Egg production varied by zone (p <0.05). The odds of suboptimal egg production was 0.5 times lower in educated farmers (p =0.001). The odds of suboptimal egg production was 2.5 times more likely in ducks that attained sexual maturity at >22 weeks (p<0.001). Most farmers ranked duck plague as the most important disease, followed by duck cholera, botulism, and duck viral hepatitis. Preventive vaccination was sporadic and used by few farmers (28%). There are significant opportunities for improved duck production on the Island of Hatia and in Bangladesh generally. Keywords Indigenous duck (Anas platyrhynchos) . Traditional rearing . Risk factors . Egg production . Diseases . Bangladesh Abbreviations DANIDA Danish International Development Agency DUS Dip Unnayan Sangstha NGO Nongovernment Organization OR Odds Ratio P Probability SLDP-2 Smallholder Livestock Development Project-2 Introduction Bangladesh is comprised of several large rivers and their tributaries which create a river delta covering nearly 90% of the country. The Bay of Bengal forms the southern border of Bangladesh. This coastal belt is particularly well suited for duck rearing, an activity which is an important source of income and animal protein among low income families (Amber and Mia 2002). Bangladesh, with duck stocks of M. A. Hoque : M. A. Rahman : N. C. Debnath Chittagong Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Khulshi, Chittagong 4202, Bangladesh M. A. Hoque : L. F. Skerratt School of Public Health, Tropical Medicine and Rehabilitation Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia M. A. Hoque (*) School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia e-mail: Md.hoque@jcu.edu.au A. B. M. Rabiul Alam Beg School of Business, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia Trop Anim Health Prod (2010) 42:1579–1587 DOI 10.1007/s11250-010-9609-z