ABSTRACT

The study assessed the comparative analysis of commercial and subsistent poultry feed users in Abia State. Chapter one was the introductory section which included the problem of the study, objectives and hypotheses of the study. Four specific objectives were presented, and three hypotheses were tested. In chapter two, literatures that are relevant to the work were reviewed. Chapter three focused on the selecting sample for the study, tools used in data analysis. Descriptive statistics such as means and percentages, and inferential statistics were used in data analyses. In chapter four, the results of the analysis were presented according to the objectives of the study. Chapter five summarized this work, presented conclusions, and made recommendations. This study was conducted in Abia state with specific objectives which were to determine the socio economic  characteristics of commercial and subsistent poultry feed users in Abia state, to determine the cost and return in production in using commercial and subsistent poultry feed, to determine the factors that affect profitability and identify the constraint in using commercial and subsistent poultry feeds on birds. Simple random sampling technique was used in selecting the sample used for this study. The data was collected with the aid of a well structured questionnaire and oral interview. The objectives were analyzed using descriptive statistical tools such as mean, frequency tables, and percentage. Also with budgetary techniques such as net farm income and OLS multiple regression analysis model. In the result, there were more male poultry farmers, more married people than unmarried and those that lost either their husband or wife. An appreciable number of the respondent had no formal form of education, majority of the farmers were relatively young because the fall within the range of age(41-50)years and their experience in farming is within (6-1O)years. The cost incurred when using locally compounded feed is lower than the cost incurred when using commercial poultry feed in farming. Most of the problems faced by farmers when using subsistent feed are insufficient funds, high mortality during rainy season, cost of feed ingredient and disease outbreak etc while most of the problems faced by farmers that uses commercial poultry feeds are high cost of feed, cost of drugs and it's failure, lack of adequate ,managerial skills etc. The cost of feeds when locally compounded by the farmers reduces their total production costs. It would be beneficial to encourage farmers to embark on formulation of feed for their birds, since it would bring down their cost and increase their profits.