ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION OF BROILER PRODUCTION IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Artificial Insemination (AI) in poultry production is a veritable technique in solving the problem of breeding and meeting the increasing demand. This study assesses the economics of artificial insemination in broiler production among sixty randomly selected broiler farmers in Nigeria. The analytical techniques employed include descriptive statistics, gross margin analysis, and stochastic frontier.  The result discovered that most of the farmers are male and are at their prime age. Majority of the livestock farmers have some form of formal education and a minimum of 5 (five) year experience in poultry farming. The capital was mostly sourced from the bank. Majority of the farmers has a stock size of more than 25,000 birds. They have a gross margin of N341, 933,406. Only 20% of gross income was used for operating expenses with a return on capital invested of 4.3. The mean technical efficiency was 80.70%. Feed, vaccine and stock size were statistically significant in determining efficiency while education and extension visits are the statistically significant variable influencing technical inefficiency. It is therefore recommended that affordable and accessible input, as well as training should be made available to farmers to achieve self-sufficiency and improve the economy.