Economics of Pig Production in Ezza North Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, Nigeria

Abstract

Economics of pig production in Ezza North Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, Nigeria was studied using sixty farmers randomly selected from three towns out of five that make up the study area. Percentage response, Net farm income and ordinary least square regression analyses were used to address the objectives of the study. The result showed that 78.3% of the respondents were male farmers, while the females accounted for 21.7%. The age bracket of 31-40 constituted the majority (36.7%) of the farmers in the study area. 76% of the sampled population were married and 15% were single. 80% of the respondents were educated, while 20% had no formal education. Majority of the pig farmers had flock size of less than 20 pigs. The farmers’ socio-economic characteristic determinant factors to pig farmers’ output were farming experience, rearing method, flock size and level of education of the farmers Result of cost and returns showed that pig production is a profitable venture in the study area. The findings further show that total variable cost constuted 86.3% of total cost of production, while fixed costs accounted only for 5.2%. The Net Farm Income (NFI) was N3421,190 with Gross margin of N350,330. The return to scale was 1.089, indicating increasing return to scale. The major constraints to pig production in the study area were lack of capital (25%), cost of feeding (13.3%), diseases (11.7%), lack of drugs (11.7%) and poor access to extension services (6.7%). The study recommended on the need to increase farmers’ access to drugs, education and credit facilities.