An Assessment of Economic Sustainability and Efficiency in Small-Scale Broiler Farms in Limpopo Province: A Review

Abstract

An important factor in determining the success of a small-scale broiler farm is its economic viability and efficiency. During times of trouble for the industry, the idea receives more attention. The conceptual considerations of economic sustainability and efficiency are frequently quite constrained, according to the difficulties raised in this study and by other authors. There is a lack of information about South Africa’s small-scale broiler production’s economic viability and effectiveness. Furthermore, it is clear that small-scale broiler producers have the ability to increase their economic efficiency. By reducing the mortality rate, feed conversion rate, and production duration, both their technical and financial efficiency could be improved. Profitability in the production of broilers will be considerably increased by lowering the cost of these variable inputs, particularly feed and day-old chicks. Additionally, raising the education level, capacity utilization ratio, and broiler production would all contribute to raising the farms’ efficiency levels. To ensure effective resource use and to maximize practicable profit, small-scale broiler producers who are not operating close to the profit frontier must make efforts to reduce both technical and allocation inefficiencies. Collectively, all these measures would ensure the economic sustainability of small-scale farmers in South Africa would be met. Moreover, the sustainability of small-scale broiler producers can be achieved if strategies that build local capacity and that empower them to sustain high levels of productivity are provided. In addition, the efficient use of resources will ensure that productivity is enhanced, and might increase profitability. It is therefore important to ensure that small-scale broiler producers achieve maximum profit for a given set of inputs. Approaches in assessing the farm-level profitability such as cost-benefit and gross margin analyses can be used.