Assessment of Factors Affecting Poultry (Broiler) Production in Imo State, Nigeria

The study assessed the factors affecting poultry (broiler) production in Imo State, Nigeria. Multistage sampling technique was used in selecting the respondents. A total of eighty four (84) poultry producers were randomly selected with the aid of well-structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple regression models. The result shows that majority (59.5%) of the producers were male, mean age was 45 years, mean household size was 6 persons, 67.86% of the producers attended tertiary education, mean years of farming experience was 9.3 years. The multiple regression analysis showed that farm experience, drug costs, farm size and disease occurrence were statistically significant at 10% level of probability implying that these are the key factors affecting poultry production. The major constraints militating against poultry production were high feed cost, lack of fund, outbreak of disease and high transportation cost. The study recommended that the government should provide credit facilities to poultry producers to abate lack of fund and provision of appropriate vaccines in the study area.