Farmers’ Socio-Economic Characteristics Influencing Poultry-egg Availability in Bade Local Government Area, Yobe State, Nigeria

Abstract

Birds are pivotal in human diet as they produce quality eggs for animal protein which is required for healthy growth of an individual. Nigeria with poor animal protein consumption stemming from unavailability, thus, this research aimed at analyzing the socio-economic factors influencing poultry-egg availability in Bade Local Government Area (LGA) of Yobe State. A multistage sampling method was applied in selecting 54 poultry-egg producers in the area with information elicited through structured questionnaires. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple regression. Result shows male constituting 65% of the sampled population, with one form of education or another, with less than 11 years of farming experience (72%), and 79% being below 48 years of age. Furthermore, majority of the respondents had medium size households of not more than 10 persons (72%), although, married (76%) with cooperative societies membership (65%), without extension visit (57%). Poultry-egg availability in the study area was influenced by flock size, capital, age, farming experience, extension contact, and income level of the farmer. This demonstrates how important socio-economic characteristics are to poultry-egg availability in the country. The study established that poultry-egg farmers were young literate married males with less poultry farming experience and medium size households who source for credit from informal channels to boost their income with little extension agents’ support even though they belong to cooperative societies. Therefore, the research recommends that: credit should be made available to farmers by agricultural stakeholders in order to encourage technical innovations and timely availability of necessary inputs for poultry-egg production; and extension agents in corroboration with other stakeholders should organize training on poultry-egg farming to increase the quantity of eggs supplied to the market considering the population of the State.