Energy Engineering Approach for Rural Areas Cattle Farmers in Bangladesh to Reduce COVID-19 Impact on Food Safety

Mohammad Nur-E-Alam, Mohammad Nasirul Hoque, Soyed Mohiuddin Ahmed, Mohammad Khairul Basher and Narottam Das
Additional contact information
Mohammad Nur-E-Alam: Electron Science Research Institute, School of Science, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, WA 6027, Australia
Mohammad Nasirul Hoque: Department of Physics, University of Chittagong, Chattogram 4331, Bangladesh
Soyed Mohiuddin Ahmed: School of Pharmacy and Life Science, Jiujiang University, Jiujiang 332000, Jiangxi, China
Mohammad Khairul Basher: Institute of Electronics, AERE, Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission, Dhaka 1349, Bangladesh
Narottam Das: School of Engineering and Technology, Central Queensland University, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 20, 1-20

Abstract: This paper reports on the optimization of thin-film coating-assisted, self-sustainable, off-grid hybrid power generation systems for cattle farming in rural areas of Bangladesh. Bangladesh is a lower middle-income country with declining rates of poverty among its 160 million people due to persistent economic growth in conjunction with balanced agricultural improvements. Most of the rural households adopt a mixed farming system by cultivating crops and simultaneously rearing livestock. Among the animals raised, cattle are considered as the most valuable asset for the small-/medium-scale farmers in terms of their meat and milk production. Currently, along with the major health issue, the COVID-19 pandemic is hindering the world’s economic growth and has thrust millions into unemployment; Bangladesh is also in this loop. However, natural disasters such as COVID-19 pandemic and floods, largely constrain rural smallholder cattle farmers from climbing out of their poverty. In particular, small- and medium-scale cattle farmers face many issues that obstruct them from taking advantage of market opportunities and imposing a greater burden on their families and incomes. An appropriate measure can give a way to make those cattle farmers’ businesses both profitable and sustainable. Optimization of thin-film coating-assisted, self-sustainable, off-grid hybrid power generation system for cattle farming is a new and forward-looking approach for sustainable development of the livestock sector. In this study, we design and optimize a thin-film coating-assisted hybrid (photovoltaic battery generator) power system by using the Hybrid Optimization of Multiple Energy Resources (HOMER, Version 3.14.0) simulation tool. An analysis of the results has suggested that the off-grid hybrid system is more feasible for small- and medium-scale cattle farming systems with long-term sustainability to overcome the significant challenges faced by smallholder cattle farmers in Bangladesh.

Keywords: cattle farming; COVID-19 pandemic; economic point of view; food safety; HOMER; hybrid system; smallholder; thin-film coating (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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