Factors affecting the profitability of Broiler Chicken production among small scale farmers in Lusaka

Abstract

Poultry industry is proving to be a very important sector in Zambia and most developing countries, the broiler sector particularly. The broiler industry has grown significantly over the past years as the market became liberalized. This study focused on identifying those factors that can affect profitability of broiler production amongst small holder farmers, this represented the general objective. More specifically, the study sort to identify the effects of various factors such as household size and level of management had on the profits. This was achieved by carrying out a gross margin analysis, a proxy for profitability, and then regressing the gross margin on various variables in the multivariate model. This study used mainly primary data which was collected from registered poultry producers mrough'a well structured questionnaire in Lusaka area from the Pouhry Association of Zambia. The data collected was then analyzed in ST AT A 11 where both gross margin and the regression were computed. Factors found to be significant in explaining variations in profits are; cost of production, mortality, farm gate price, market outlets, volume of sales and household size. The farm gate price, volume of sales and household size were found to influence the variation positively where as cost of production and mortality "negatively influenced profitability as expected. It is therefore prudent for government to invest in extension services designed to teach and encourage farmers to invest in broiler production as it is a very profitable venture with gross margin being averagely positive for most farmers in Lusaka.