Socioeconomic Factors Influencing the Choice of type of Broiler Enterprise among Poultry Farmers in Delta State Nigeria

This paper specifically examined the socioeconomic characteristics of the broiler farmers that influence the choice of type of broiler enterprise and as well determined the output of poultry farmers in the study area. This is with a view to improving broiler production in Nigeria. A multistage sampling procedure was adopted in selecting broiler farmers for the study. A total of 80 respondents were interviewed for the study but 76 copies of questionnaire, comprising 35 Brood-and-sell farmers and 41 Brood-and-finish farmers were utilized for analysis. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, budgetary technique, multiple linear regressions and the logit model. Findings revealed that while it cost N49,320.00 (N43,200.00 variable cost and N6,120.00 fixed cost) to raise a 500 broiler unit to four weeks for those practicing Brood-and-sell, it took N410,070.00 (N394,870.00 variable cost and N15,200.00 fixed cost) to raise same unit of 500 broilers to maturity at 10 weeks for the Brood-and-finish enterprise. Return on Investment (RI) for Brood-and-Sell broiler enterprise was 0.62 while that of Brood-and-finish Broiler enterprise was 0.58. This indicates that a one naira investment in Brood-and-Sell enterprise realized a profit of 62k while that of Brood-and-finish enterprise realized 58k implying that on the basis of this analysis, the Brood-and-Sell broiler enterprise is more profitable than the Brood-and-finish broiler enterprise in the study area. The parameter estimates showed that six variables significantly influence the choice of the techniques. These include household size, education, farm size, cost of feed, cost of medication and access to credit.Key words: Brood-and-sell, Brood-and-finish, Budgetary technique, Return on investmen