Commercial Agriculture and Youth Poultry Egg Farmers’ Efficiency in Nigeria

Low egg production is one of the many factors that challenge the growth of the Nigerian poultry industry and particular attention has not been paid to youth involvement in commercial poultry egg production. Using data from 181 sampled farmers, this study used Propensity Score Matching (PSM) to investigate whether the impact of the concluded Commercial Agriculture Development Project was sustainable, even three years after its closure in Nigeria. Farmers who participated in the project recorded 7.6%-21.0% increases in profit and a slight (0.1%-0.7%) decrease in technical efficiency. Comparing determinants of profitability between youth and non-youth farmers, show that price per crate and egg production quantity recorded more positive effects on the profitability of youth farmers while feed price had a more negative effect on the profitability of non-youth farmers. On the determinants of Technical Efficiency (TE) between youth and non-youth farmers, although years of education decreased the TE of both groups, the effect was greater among youth farmers, while egg production was significant and positive for both groups, the effect was greater for non-youth farmers. Also, the number of birds, feed quantity, and price per crate had negative effects on TE for youth farmers only, while years of experience although negative was significant for only the non-youth group. Overall, youth farmers recorded more significant positive effects on profit than non-youth farmers and less significant positive effects on TE. Overall, our results suggest scaling-up or expanding commercial agriculture interventions to farmers, especially youth. Our finding further highlights the need for training/capacity-building and extension services for youth farmers as this will bridge the gaps of inexperience that are contributory to TE of non-youth farmers.