DOES INVESTMENT IN POULTRY EGG PRODUCTION YIELD ANY PROFIT?

This study analyzes the profitability of investment in poultry egg production in Iwo Local Government Area (LGA) of Osun State. Multi-stage sampling technique was employed to select 100 poultry egg producers for this study. Data were analyzed using farm budgetary techniques and ordinary least square regression model. The descriptive results show mean values of 39 years, 8 years and 5 persons for age, years of experience and household size, respectively. The ordinary least squares regression estimates revealed that medicines and veterinary charges, feeds, hired labour and flock size significantly influenced poultry egg production. An average cost of N 770,557 was incurred by the farmers while gross margin of N851,148 and the net returns of N 546,823 were realized. The result further revealed that the gross ratio, profitability index and operating efficiency were N1.71, N0.71 and N0.61, respectively. The study concluded that investment in poultry egg production is profitable and the producers were efficient in their use of productive resources. However, poultry egg production would be more profitable, if the costs of feeding could be controlled. Therefore, the agricultural programmes should focus their attention on ways farmers could be trained on poultry feed preparation to substantially reduce the cost of feeding which represents the highest component of the variable cost of poultry egg production. Also, labor management practices should also be encouraged so that farmers further reduce costs by expending labor only on necessary activities