Optimum enterprise combination of selected food crops and broiler production systems in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria

The purpose of this study was to determine the optimum enterprise combination of selected food crops and broiler production systems in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Nigeria with a view of recommending to the farmers the optimum combination that maximizes their gross margin. A two-stage sampling technique was used to select 80 respondents for the study using a well-structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed using gross margin analysis and linear programming (LP) model. Findings revealed that farmers in the study area combined broiler production with the combination of maize/cassava and maize/sorghum crops. Analysis of the cost and returns showed that all the enterprise combinations were profitable with a gross margin of ₦1,478,449.64, ₦469,690.3 and ₦143,720.8 for broiler, maize/cassava and maize/sorghum combination respectively. The result of the linear programming revealed that broiler production and maize/cassava combination would maximize a gross margin of ₦2,326,408 from cultivating 1.7 ha of maize/cassava and producing 407 broilers. The dual or shadow price of 609987.5 for land and 30546.48 for feed implies that cultivating additional hectare of maize/cassava and feeding the broilers with additional bag of 25kg feed would improve or increase the objective value to a value of ₦2,936,395.5 and ₦2,356,954.48 respectively. Based on these findings we recommend that the farmers should combine maize/cassava and broiler production as these enterprises will increase their gross margin per hectare.