Risk management and determinants of farm output among small scale poultry farmers in Ekiti State, Nigeria

K.C Obike,H.B Olowolafe,T.A Amusa

doi:10.4314/as.v16i2.2

Abstract

The study was carried out to investigate risk management and determinants of farm output among small scale poultry farmers in Ekiti State, Nigeria. Cross sectional data were collected from randomly sampled 120 poultry farmers with the use of a well-structured questionnaire. The data collected were analysed using frequency, percentage, mean, chart and ordinary least square (OLS) multiple regression analysis. The results of the study showed that production, financial, marketing, technological and human risks are the major sources of risks encountered by the poultry farmers. Disease outbreak, high cost of medication and vaccines, insufficient fund, lack of quality feed and fragility of poultry products are some of the risk situations in poultry farming in the study area. Risk management practices among the farmers are enterprise diversification, marketing and production strategies. The result of the multiple regression model (R 2 = 0.96) revealed that age, household size, stock size, capital input, farming experience, location, cost of medication and cost of labour (p<0.01) are the major determinant of farm output among poultry farmers. This shows that better risk management determines higher farm output. Based on the above findings, the study recommends that there should be adequate institutional supports in form of credits facilities, sales of day old chicks, quality feed, vaccines and drugs in government stores to poultry farmers for improved productivity. Keywords: food security, risk management, poultry farming, small scale farmers, Ekiti State

Highlights

Food production is of high importance for sustainable livelihood, economic productivity and food security of the developing countries (Obike et al, 2016)
Some indicators of risk situations in poultry farming in the area and their respective mean values include: frequent cases of disease outbreak (4.36), high cost of medication and vaccines where available (4.19), insufficient fund by most farmers (4.68), lack of quality feed for improved yield (4.13), unfavourable weather condition affecting poultry birds (3.98), fragility of poultry products such as eggs and day old chicks (4.57), lack of technical know-how of improved farming technologies by most farmers (4.32) and inadequate credit facilities for improved production (4.20) among others. This mean values of these indicators are greater than the cut-off point value of 3.00 on five point rating scale which indicate that the identified indicators are risk situations in poultry farming in Ekiti State
The findings of this study is in line with that of Effiong, et al, (2014) who identified the risks in poultry farming to include weather/climate, power failure, high mortality rate of birds, infestation of diseases, changes in input prices, poor and inadequate finance, attack by predators and poor storage facilities

Summary

Introduction

Food production is of high importance for sustainable livelihood, economic productivity and food security of the developing countries (Obike et al, 2016). Joseph and Ajayi (2002) stated that the recommended minimum nutrient requirements to be consumed per day per capita includes the 2191 Kcal and 65-86 g crude protein out of which at least 35g or (40%) must be animal protein. The present animal protein consumption in Nigeria is about 15g per person per day which is relatively below the recommended 35g per person per day (Olarinde et al, 2010). This further aggravates the current wide spread hunger, malnutrition and stunted growth as well as increased spread of nutrition-related diseases in most parts of the country. There is need for increased production and consumption of animal-based protein for healthy living. Proteins of animal sources include fish, milk, beacon, pork, mutton, beef and poultry products such as eggs and poultry meat among others

Methods

Results

Conclusion