SOCIOECONOMIC FACTORS AFFECTING POULTRY PRODUCTION IN EBONYI STATE

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.
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