Economics of Quail Production in Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study assesses the economics of quail production in Ilorin, Kwara state. Structured questionnaires were used to elicit information from 56 farmers that were selected with the use of a snow-ball sampling technique. Major tools of analysis for the study included descriptive statistic, gross margin analysis, Stochastic Production Frontier Model and 4 points Likert-type. The results of the findings revealed that both male and female are actively involved in the production i.e. 54.7% and 45.3% respectively with about 83% of the respondents in their active age range of 31-50 years and 66% have tertiary education. Also, results from the gross margin analysis show that an average farmer incurred a sum of ₦212,850 on variable costs with feed carrying the highest percentage (73%) and had an average net profit of ₦172,830. Feed, stock size, experience and farmer’s educational level are statistically significant to the production efficiency at different levels of probability as shown by the stochastic frontier result and farmers have a mean technical efficiency of 60.53%. The research therefore recommended that efforts should be made to reduce production cost through reduction in feed cost via establishment of more feed mills which are to be monitored by the Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) to maintain standard.