A Stochatic Production Function Approach to Estimate the Effect of Cost of Resources among Indiginous Chicken Farmers in Kitui County, Kenya

Abstract

Indigenous chicken production has become an important source of income and protein for many households especially in the developing economies. This study was conducted to identify the common resources used and determine their level of influence on indigenous chicken production in selected wards of Kitui county using the production function approach Primary data was collected by administering structured questionnaires on 120 respondents. A multistage sampling procedure was applied where four sub counties where purposively selected followed by random selection of four wards from each sub county. Finally, 10 respondents were randomly selected from each ward. The questionnaire response rate was 83% and therefore 100 questionnaires were used for analysis. The study established that, the resources used by the indigenous chicken farmers were; poultry house, feeds, feeding traps, water traps, veterinary services and hired labour. The results of the stochastic production frontier showed that the costs of the identified resources significantly influenced the level on indigenous chicken production in the study area. Based on the results, the study suggests that: 1. there was need to educated farmers on optimum production techniques in order to cut down on costs and adjust their scale of production to match the costs and 2. Extension officers should help in mobilizing farmers into small self help groups through which the government and nongovernmental organization can assist the farmers.