Impact of improved duck rearing on sale and consumption of ducks in rural households of flood-prone areas of Bangladesh

The study was carried out over a period of 12 months from July 2016 to June 2017 in six villages of the Chittagong district, Bangladesh. The study was a cluster randomised controlled trial comprised of three arms with two villages randomly distributed per arm – an Intervention I, an Intervention II and a Control arm. In each village, 25 households were randomly selected and received 15 ducklings, a bamboo basket for protecting ducklings from predators, and training in duck rearing. Intervention I and II households received deworming and vaccination against duck diseases, while duck feed were only provided to Intervention II households. Ducklings were day-old unsexed ducks of a similar proportion of four breeds (Khaki Campbell, Indian Runner, Jinding and Pekin) purchased from the Regional Government Duck Breeding Farm, Sonagazi, Feni, Bangladesh. Their average initial weight was 40.0 g. Household owners were expected to take care of the ducks until sold or consumed over the 12-month period. They did not need to return any remaining ducks after the end of the trial. The bamboo basket was provided to protect ducklings from predators and keep them warm in the first weeks after provision to the household. Training in duck farming was provided to all households over a period of 10 days (1-10 July 2016). A training session lasted four hours and included all aspect of raising ducks, from breeding, hatching, incubation, brooding of ducks, housing, feeding, vaccination and the prevention and control of the main duck diseases. Two duck production experts from Chittagong Veterinary and Animal University (CVASU) delivered the training. At the end of the training, a question and answer session was conducted and a training manual in Bangla language was provided to all farmers. Anthelmintics (Levamisole) were given to the ducklings in the two intervention groups first at the age of 40 days and then repeatedly every 60 days. Duck plague and duck cholera vaccines were provided from the Department of Livestock Services, Chittagong, Bangladesh. Duck plague vaccine was given intramusculary at the age of 30 days and duck cholera vaccine was given subcutaneously at the age of 60 days. Booster vaccinations were provided after 15 days and additional vaccinations were conducted every six months. Duck feed supplied to households in the Intervention II group was commercially produced pellet feed (Diameter=5 mm; ME=3000 kcal/kg; CP=22%; CF=<5%; EE=<5%; Ca=0.9%; Pavail=0.4%; Lysine=1%; Methionine=0.4%). The feed was supplied at the rate of 1.0 kg per duckling per month over a period of four months. A baseline questionnaire was used to collect the following data: number of household members, their age, occupation, level of education, livestock ownership, experience in duck farming, agricultural land size, approximate annual income, assets owned by the household (to develop a wealth status index) and household baseline dietary diversity. A follow-up questionnaire was then administered every month to collect information about duck mortalities, the consumption and sale of ducks and eggs, the occurrence of adverse health events among household members within the last month and household dietary diversity in 24-hr period prior to the interview