Profitability and Constraints of Poultry Egg Enterprise in Ogun State, Nigeria

Abstract

Poultry is an important sub-sector in the livestock sector of any economy and it plays a very significant role in economic development. The study sought to reveal the profitability of the three scales of poultry layer production in Ogun State, Nigeria. The study employed multistage sampling procedure to select 180 respondents. Data was obtained from the farmers with the use of well-structured questionnaire. Profitability analysis was carried out using budgeting technique where the farmer’s revenue, variable cost, fixed cost and other profitability ratios were estimated. It was shown that all the three levels of enterprise were profitable and the level of profitability increases as the scale of production increases. Constraints were analysed using the Importance ranking indices matrix where it was discovered that majority of the farmers rank inadequate finance as the most important constraints followed by high cost of feed, low and fluctuating price of egg followed on the list of importance. The industry is very lucrative, so new entrance should be encouraged by providing enabling environment for both existing and new in order to reduce poverty level and protein deficiency in the country. Key