Characteristics of broiler farmers in Katabi sub-county, Wakiso District

Abstract

The agricultural sector ranks first in terms of labor force in the Ugandan economy. Approximately 7.4 million households operate agricultural land and / or rear livestock. Production of poultry meat of Uganda increased from 14,846 tons in 1971 to 69,991 tons in 2020 growing at an average annual rate of 3.59%. Therefore, this study focused on the characteristics that define Broiler Farmers in Katabi Sub-County, Wakiso district. A total of 100 farmers were randomly selected from 25 villages. A pre-tested questionnaire was administered to the Broiler farmers using snowball-sampling procedure and transect walk through. The Data was analyzed using SPSS Version 19. 47% of the Farmers Were Male and 53% were female. The biggest number of respondents were aged between 41 – 50 years, 24% had attained Tertially education, 29% had O-Level, 14% had A-Level and 33% had finished Primary Level education. The reason for choosing to rear broilers, 69% of the farmers confess early maturity, 21% high demand for poultry meat and 10% faster return from investment. Among the objectives given for broiler production, 58% of the farmers do it for income generation, 27% for raising school fees, 7% as a side business and 8% as a means to meet Dietary requirements. The other enterprises carried out by broiler farmers in Katabi Sub-county besides broiler production, 35% engage in Piggery production, 22% had none, 15% engage in Vegetable production, 9% engage in Boda-Boda transportation, 9% in Diary production, 8 % in Rabbitry production, 1% in sheep rearing and 1% in fish farming. The challenges faced by Broiler farmers in Katabi sub-county included, high input costs especially feeds (51%), Fake input products on the market (25%), stiff competition (12%), Disease outbreak (7%) and inadequate knowledge on production (5%). The Management Practices undertaken were to ensure proper hygiene, good quality broilers, fast growth, and reduction in mortality rate. The flock sizes were ranging from <500 birds (26%), 500-1000 birds (62%) and above 1000 birds (12%). The weight of birds kept was ranging from 1.4 kgs to 2.0 kgs.