An empirical study on socio-economic status of women labor in rice husking mill of Bangladesh

The economy of Bangladesh mainly depends on agriculture. Any development can’t be possible because females and males are equally distributed in the country. Women can play a vital role if they properly participated in farm activities as well as in other income-generating activities outside the home. Rice mills are very much dependent on human labour, and almost 5 millions of unorganised workers are working in different rice mills, and more than 60 per cent of them is a female worker. But the working environment suffers from different discrimination and harassment issues between male and female workers. The present study aimed to find out the socio-economic status of women labour at rice husking mill of Bangladesh. Discrimination between male and female workers and the factor affecting the standard of living of women’s household will be focused. The study was carried out in two districts namely Mymensingh and Sherpur. From each district, rice husking mill was selected by using a cluster sampling technique, and 70 male and 70 female labours were considered as a sample. The survey was conducted by direct interviews using a questionnaire. Data generated were analysed by using tabular and statistical techniques. The average family size of the respondents was 4.46, and 57.05% of the participants were females while 42.95% were males in the household and 65.71% of female had no education. 88% of the women’s main occupation was in the rice mill as a daily paid labour. Average wage rate of male and female worker was 184.31 Tk. And 135.95 Tk., respectively. Age, education, number of family member, total land, number of earning member, the wage of women labour and working time and experience were the factors influencing income and living standard of female labours. There were various social violence cases against female labours in the working environment of rice husking mills. In the study area, 93% of female workers get lower wages, 90% of them had no accommodation facility. Besides they did not have sanitation facility (80%), opportunity to take rest at the middle of work (64%) and meal support (71%)

Food safety and market choice of dairy producers in Bangladesh

Dairy production is an important income generating activity for smallholders in Bangladesh. However, milk production in Bangladesh is known to be of poor average quality and high losses due to limited and heterogeneous milk hygiene and food safety practices on farms and during milk collection. Dairy farmers in three agro-ecological zones of Bangladesh were surveyed in order to analyze their choice of dairy markets in relation to their food safety practices. After controlling for farm and household characteristics, physical infrastructure, type of delivery relationships and nominal milk prices received, we find that a particular group of farmers tends to maintain relatively high levels of food safety practices while receiving above average milk prices. Surprisingly, these farmers tend to choose local or traditional markets due to the absence of formal incentives for high food safety practices in cooperatives or among private dairy processors. Instead, informal institutions likely enable dairy farmers with above average food safety standards to negotiate higher prices in the local village surroundings. Regarding the transformation of Bangladesh’s dairy sector towards more productivity, this finding highlights the importance to implement formal testing procedures and establish price related incentives that will reward above average food safety and milk hygiene

Assessment of marketing mix associated with consumer's purchase intention of dairy products in Bangladesh: Application of an extended theory of planned behavior

Despite persistent challenges, Bangladesh's dairy sector has been noticeable for a few decades. Although agriculture is the major contributor to GDP, dairy farming may play a crucial role in the economy by creating jobs, ensuring food security, and boosting the protein content of people's diets. This research aims to identify the direct and indirect factors influencing dairy product purchase intention amongst Bangladeshi consumers. Data were collected online using Google forms, and the convenience sampling technique was used to reach the consumers. The total sample size was 310. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive and multivariate techniques. Structural Equation Modeling results reveal that marketing mix and attitude are statistically significant with the intention to purchase dairy products. Also, the marketing mix influences the consumers' attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. However, there is no significant association between perceived behavioral control and subjective norm on intention to purchase. The findings suggest developing better products, ensuring reasonable pricing, performing promotional strategies, and proper placement to attract and increase consumers' intention to purchase dairy products