Assessment of Economic Viability of Mini-livestock Production in Delta State, Nigeria: Implication for Extension Delivery Services

The study examined the popularity, role and economic viability of mini-livestock keeping in Delta State, Nigeria. The specific objectives were to describe the socio-economic characteristics of mini-livestock farmers, identify the types of animals reared as mini-livestock in the area, ascertain the reasons for keeping mini-livestock by farmers, determine the benefit level of mini-livestock farmers, and identify the problems facing mini-livestock farmers in the study area. Using snowball sampling technique, 674 respondents were sampled with the aid of a structured questionnaire. Various descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analyses. The results of the study indicated various types of mini-livestock reared in the study area, mainly snail farming or heliciculture (about 90%) and rearing of cane rat (84.27%); the most important reasons for keeping mini-livestock were income (99.6%), employment (99.26%) and food (94.96%). The result further indicated that protein consumption and improved income were the most important benefits to respondents. In spite of these benefits, the respondents faced some constraints, amongst which were lack of technical information (X=4.70), lacking of enough space for expansion (X=4.58), inadequate training (X=4.20), poor extension delivery services (X=4.20) and problems of feed availability (X=3.86). In spite of these constraints, the production of mini-livestock was found to be profitable in the study area. Based on the findings, it was recommended, among others, that mini-livestock farmers in the study area should be trained on various aspects of the management of mini-livestock especially by organising workshops for them.