INTRODUCTION
The importance of poultry production to the national
economy cannot be over-emphasized, as it has become a popular industry for the
small holders that have great contributions to the economy of the country.
Poultry production has assumed great importance in improving the employment
opportunities and animal food production in Nigeria.
An earlier report by Okonkwo and
Akubuo (2001), showed that about percent of Nigerian population are engaged in
poultry production, mostly on subsistence and small and medium scale funning.
Presently, the industry has been adversely affected by stringent government
economic measures. The measurers have been very pronounced on poultry
production due to high level of sensitivity of the industry to management
factor and resultant effect on lives and productivity of the birds.
Poultry production a branch of
agriculture, specifically in the livestock sub sector is concerned with the
production and nearing of chickens, ducks and geese for meat or eggs. As noted;
poultry production could either be on
subsistence of commercial level and whenever the purpose, level or size of
production, it services as a source of food production to the citizen, income
generation to the farmers and a source of foreign exchange earning to the
economy, when the production is one a large scale, in excess of domestic
consumption.
Objective of the Study
The broad objective of the study is
to determine the socio-economic factors affecting poultry production in Ebonyi
State. The specific is to determine the effect of the socio-economics of the
poultry producers on their output in the study area.
Hypothesis
The following hypothesis were tested
Ho: The socio-economic characteristics of poultry
farmers do not significantly effect on poultry production in the study Area.
Data Analysis
Model
Specification
Multiple regression model is shown
Y = F(x1,
x2, x3,x4………(Xn)
Implicit Function
Y = bo
+ b1 x1+ b2x2 x b3 x3
+ b4x4
Where;
Y = output
from the poultry (kg)
X1 = sex
X2 = Age
X3 = Marital
status
X4 = Educational
status
X5 = farm size
X6 = House
hold size
Effect of socio-economic characteristic
of the respondents on output (kg).
Multiple
regression analysis was carried out to determine the effect of socio-economic
characteristics of poultry farmers on their output.
The
result is shown in table.
Variable
|
Variable name
|
Regression coefficient
|
Std error
|
T-value
|
Sign
|
Consistent
|
2.266
|
0.852
|
2.658
|
0.013
|
|
X1
|
Sex
|
-0.199
|
0.119
|
-1.676
|
0.103
|
X2
|
Age
|
-0.079
|
0.090
|
-0.884
|
0.383
|
X3
|
Marital status
|
0.119
|
0.154
|
0.769
|
0.448
|
X4
|
Educational status
|
0.503
|
0.205
|
2.455
|
0.020
|
X5
|
Farm size
|
0.071
|
0.169
|
-0420
|
0.068
|
X6
|
House hold size
|
-0.061
|
0.187
|
-0.327
|
0.748
|
R2 = 0.824
Adjusted
R2 = 0.814
Standard
Error of the estimate = 0.91406
Durbin-Watson = 1.825
Source:
survey, 2013
The results multiple regression
analysis shown in above table indicates a high coefficient a multiple
determination (R2) of (0.824). This implies that about (82%) of the
total variation that occurred in the dependent variable was caused by
independent variable include in the regression model. The how value of standard
error indicates that the result is statistically reliable.
The coefficient of sex (X1)
was negative but not statistically significant. This implies that there is
gender discrimination in the amount of poultry produced in study area. It could
be that male poultry farmers obtained higher input than their females
counterparts.
The coefficient of age (X2)
showed positive sign, meaning positive relationship with the dependent
variable. The means that the higher the age of the farmers the higher heir
output. It could be that older farmers are more experienced in poultry older
farmers are more experienced in poultry production and obtained higher more
than younger farmers.
Also, marital status (X3)
showed a positive coefficient which indicates positives relationship. This
implies that both marital and single farmers involved in poultry production.
Similarly, the educational status
was positively signed and statistically significant at (5%) level of
significance. It means that the higher the educational level of the
poultry farmers, the higher their
output, this is because educated farmers are more intelligent and therefore
tend to utilize innovation on poultry production wisely.
The farm size (X5) also
showed positive coefficient but was statistically significant at level of
significance. This means that poultry farmers who had higher farm size obtained
more output from poultry production/
The
final regression equation is shown;
Y = 2.266
+ 0.199-0.079+0.119
(2.658) (0.119) (0.090) (0.154)
0.0503 + 0.071 – 0.061
(0.205) (0.169)
(0.187)
Hypothesis Testing
Decision
rule
If the f-cal is greater than f-tab reject
null hypothesis otherwise accept alternative.
F-cal = R2
(N-K)
1-R2 (K-1)
Where;
R2 = Multiple
coefficient determination.
N = sample
size
K = Number
of variable
F-cal = 0.824
(40-6)
1-0.824 (44)
F-cal = 0.824
(44)
1-0.824 (6-1)
F-cal = 36.256
0.88
F-cal = 41.2
F-tab = 2.39
Since,
F-cal is greater than f-tab, the null hypothesis is rejected while the
alternative was accepted. This implies that the socio-economic characteristics
of the poultry farmers have significant effect on poultry production in the
study area.