Socioeconomic Determinants of Good Agricultural Practices in Broiler Production among Commercial Poultry Farmers in Yenagoa Local Government Area, Bayelsa State

Abstract

This study was on socioeconomic determinants of Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) in broiler production among commercial poultry farmers in Yenagoa Local Government Area (LGA) of Bayelsa State. The objective was to describe the socio-economic characteristics of poultry farmers while the hypothesis was; the socioeconomic characteristics of commercial poultry farmers do not determine their GAPs implementation in broiler production. With multi-stage sampling, data were collected from 90 randomly selected poultry farmers registered with Agricultural Development Program. Primary data obtained with structured questionnaire administered to the commercial poultry farmers were analysed with percentage, mean and Ordinary Least Square Regression Analysis. From results, majority (84%) of Yenagoa LGA poultry farmers were males whose mean age was 40 years. They were mostly married (59%), had average household size of 7 persons, stocked on the average 152 birds per production cycle ad made average income of ₦263,000.00.  Also, farmers had average farming experience of 6 years and mean years of formal schooling of 15. Regression result at α ≤ 0.05 indicates; Age (X₁) with t-ratio = -3.7364, Education (X₃) with t-ratio = 5.5011, Stock size (X₄) with t-value = -2.0971, Farming experience (X₅) with t-ratio = -1.9969, Household size (X₆) with t-ratio = -3.0858 and income (X₈) with t-ratio = 5.3017 were the socioeconomic variables that determined GAPs implementation among commercial poultry farmers in Yenagoa LGA. Thus legislation and advocacy by government, donor agencies and stakeholders focused on farmers’ socioeconomic variables of importance in sustaining GAPs implementation was recommended.