Impact of Poultry Feed Price and Price Variability on Commercial Poultry Production in Murang'a County, Kenya
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Date
2015-03-04
Authors
Bett, E.K.
Njehia, B.
Njoroge, S.
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Abstract
This article evaluates the impact of poultry feed prices and price variability on poultry production in rural Kenya. The study utilizes a cross sectional farm-household data collected in 2014 from a randomly selected sample of 134 farmers engaged in layers and broilers production. The authors applied Nerlovian and econometric models to estimate the causal impacts. The Nerlovian coefficient of adjustment was 0.394 for layers and 0.182 for broiler. This implies that the rate of adjustment was moderate for layer farmers and slow for broiler farmers. Thus poultry feed manufacturers should adjust prices of layer feeds moderately and the prices of broiler feeds slowly if these farmers were to remain in gainful production. Results of econometric model show that lagged prices of poultry feeds has a significant influence on layers and broilers population kept in the current period. Although there was significant poultry population growth, time and poultry population had a negative relationship implying that individual farmers were rearing less and less birds with time. This indicates that if the government develops measures aimed at reducing variability in feed prices and those that may enhance farmers ability to adjust to or cope with price changes, it would result in improved and sustained poultry production.
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Keywords
Price variability; Poultry feeds; Impact, Poultry production, Kenya
Citation
IOSR Journal of Economics and Finance (IOSR-JEF) e,Volume 6, Issue 1. Ver. I (Jan.-Feb. 2015), PP 46-53 www.iosrjournals.org