Economics of Poultry Manure Utilization in Land Quality Improvement Among Integrated Poultry-Maize-Farmers in Southwestern Nigeria

Abstract

ABSTRACT The rapid growth of Nigeria's poultry industry has made it more advantageous in terms of providing the essential raw material for alternative soil fertility and land quality enhancement than other livestock. This paper centres on the use and non-use of poultry manure as a land improvement technique for sustainable food production. This is achieved by comparing the economic benefits accruable to users and non-users of poultry manure among maize farmers in two agroecological zones (Guinea Savannah and Rain Forest) in Southwestern Nigeria. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire on a sample of 250 randomly selected maize farmers in each of the agroecological zones. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics and partial budget approach of costs and returns analysis. Results showed that farmers in the two ecological zones are smallholders, with land area grown to maize varying between 0.01 and 3.00 hectares. Users of poultry manure are mainly integrated poultry-maize farm operators who applied poultry manure only on small portions (23% and 27%, respectively, in the Guinea savannah and rain forest zones) of the total cropped area of their farmlands. Respondents were fairly literate with a mean age of 43 years for the study area. Poultry manure material constituted about 91% (90% in the savannah and 91% in the forest zone) of the total variable cost of inputs in the study area. This is attributed to the bulkiness of manure and the distance travelled for its collection. Yield levels (kg/ha) and mean net income earnings (/ha) per annum were significantly higher for users of poultry manure. Users recorded 1.35 times and 1.45 times, respectively, of non-users' earnings in the savannah and forest zones. Major constraints to poultry manure use include: odor, transportation, insufficient quantity (scarcity), wetness, bulkiness and not readily accessible (hence its search is time consuming), in descending order of importance. While odor and transportation were identified as common problems among poultry manure users in the guinea savannah and rain forest zones, bulkiness was an additional constraint for non-user respondents in both zones. These imply that use of poultry manure results in higher yield levels per unit of land, and is more profitable than its non-use. Poultry manure therefore constitutes an important land improvement technique capable of enhancing farm production and income levels as results generally show that higher profitability is associated with use of poultry manure, and this has implications for increased poultry production. Thus, farmers and farm operators in the study area should be encouraged to keep more birds as integrated enterprises to provide, apart from table eggs and chickens, sufficient quantity of poultry manure for soil quality improvement and for enhanced crop productivity. Technologies aimed at packaging poultry manure in such a way as to remove the associated social constraints to its use by farmers also need be put in place.