| dc.description.abstract | The poultry sector continues to grow and industrialize in many parts of the world. An increasing population, greater purchasing power and urbanization have been strong drivers of growth of the poultry industry.More than 75% of households raise native chickens in East Africa. Poultry is a cheap, high-quality source of protein that is essential for lowering malnutrition in rural areas. In developing nations, the poultry industry has the ability to stimulate economic growth, the expansion of the middle class, an increase in the number of quick-service restaurants in urban areas, and a rising demand for animal protein. The consumption of fast foods like Rolex is rising causing more demand for eggs. In addition, there is high demand for eggs in neighboring countries. The poultry industry is providing job opportunities to more and more people. Chicken meat production is playing effective role in decreasing the gap of the animal protein availability and its requirement. Therefore, the study examined the status of commercial poultry production in kakiika division Mbarara City North. In addition, Mbarara district is previously known for cattle farming, it is not exactly documented why farmers are showing interest towards poultry farming. There is need to find out the challenges experienced by poultry farmers in a new setting as Mbarara City North as well as understanding the factors that influence farmers to prefer poultry business to the traditional culture of cattle rearing. The target population was poultry farmers in Kakiika division, Mbarara city north. To achieve these objectives, simple random sampling was used to select 52 respondents. Primary data was collected using questionnaire and interview method. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. A binary logit model was applied to analyze factors that have influenced choice of poultry production as a business. Results of this study indicate that 75 percent of the total respondents engage in poultry production as their main economic activity. Level of education and availability of markets for poultry products are the factors that influenced most farmers to choose poultry farming as a business. The main challenge was price fluctuations whereby 100% of the farmers were affected by this challenge. Other major challenges were; Disease outbreak, High input costs, poor/ inadequate markets, and High mortality rate. | en_US |
