Contract broiler farming as an effective pathway to improve rural prosperity in Indonesia

Abstract

AbstractThis study investigates contract broiler farming as an effective scheme to improve rural prosperity through increased income using data compiled from a survey of randomly selected 158 broiler farm operations in Central Java and annual data collected from January to December 2020. Descriptive and regression analyses were used in this study. Farmers raised broilers, ranging from 5,400 to 20,000, about eight cycles a year in a closed‐house system. The number of broilers, feed conversion ratio (FCR), index performance, and harvested weight were hypothesised to influence income. Increasing index performance, number of broilers raised, length of rearing period, and harvested weight increased the broiler farm's income. Reducing FCR led to an increase in income. There was a positive correlation between the number of broilers raised and revenue and income. Contract broiler farming has improved the welfare of the rural community through increased income. Farmers earned high income from contract prices that was much higher than the production costs. It is recommended that broiler chicken contract farming should be disseminated to other farm communities in rural areas. As contract farming is suitable for medium‐ to large‐size farms, other schemes should accommodate small‐scale farms that dominate the domestic poultry industry.