CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Poultry refers to all birds of economic value to man as source of meat, egg and fibre. Egg production involves the use of good layer birds for the purpose of table egg production (Ogunlade and Adebayo, 2012). Eggs are major sources of animal protein in human diet. According to Oji and Chukwuma (2013), the poultry goes a long way in providing animal protein for the populace because it yields quickest returns and provides for meat and eggs in a very short time.
Esingmer (2011) and Banerjee (2012) added that poultry eggs nearly approach a perfect balance of all food nutrients. The yolk and albumen contain 17.5% and 10% respectively protein by weight. It was also found by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO, 2010) that eggs rank second to cow milk in terms of nutritive value and are the most economically produced animal protein.
Animal protein is an essential part of human nutrition because of its biological significance. Iwena (2013) reported that proteins are required for the growth of young ones, formation of gametes in reproduction, formation of digestive juices, repair of worn-out tissues or cells, production of anti-bodies as well as enzymes and hormones in the body.
Tijjani (2012) reaffirmed that animal proteins are more “biologically complete” than vegetable proteins with regards to their amino-acids composition. The dearth in the quantity and quality of protein supply in Nigeria is a challenge that is beyond dependence on plant protein alone. According to Fasasi (2014), Nigeria has a total land area of 98.3 million hectares out of which 71.3 million hectares are cultivable, while 34.2 million hectares representing 48% of the cultivable area are actually being cultivated and less than 10% of the arable land is irrigated. It suffices therefore, to explore quality protein of animal origin of which poultry egg is of prime importance.
Globally, egg production is growing rapidly (39% over 10 years) with Asian countries in particular having the high rates of increase; China and India with increase of 42% and 67% respectively (Scanes, 2013). Nigeria hosts more than 45% of the poultry in the West African sub region (WHO, 2006) and its poultry population is estimated at 140 –160 million comprising of 72.4 million chicken, 11.8 million ducks, 4.7million guinea fowl, 15.2 million pigeon and 0.2 million turkeys (FAO, 2006). This figure accounts for 71.38% of the total livestock kept in the country and supplies 17% of animal protein need of the population (Oji and Chukwuma, 2012).
The Ministry of Agriculture and National Resource (2011) and Eduvie (2012) stated that Nigerian poultry industry is dominated by small-holder farmers who on the aggregate raise bulk of the birds for egg production and meat, but individually rear less than 1000 birds using different production strategies in consonance with little resources available to them. Farming in general, has to use available inputs as efficiently as possible to achieve optimum production (Udoh and Akintola, 2001) and (Etim et al., 2015). This study intends to evaluate the economic and financial analysis of poultry farms in Kaduna South Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Hunger and malnutrition remain among the most devastating problems facing the world poor. The Food Insecurity Report by FAO (2012) estimated that 799 million people in 98 developing nations are not getting enough food to live a normal, healthy and active live. The supply of agricultural products from any nation to satisfy human wants and resources used in their production are very vital, due to their limited supply and stiff competition for them by many enterprises (Fasasi, 2016).