Assessing duck egg production in the Philippines:result from farm survey

Ducks have traditionally raised in the backyard in the Philippines by rural households to provide low-cost animal protein. Unlike other duck producing countries, the Philippine duck industry specializes in egg production for making Balut(an embryonated egg of 16-18 days old). In recent years, the share of commercial duck farms(with more that 100 heads)has increased from about 10% in 1991 to about 24% in 2005. The significant growth in the commercial duck sector in recent years has been attributed to the introduction of commercial duck feeds and more advanced production technology. This trend is expected to continue. This means that about 75% of ducks are still raised as backyard (less than 100 heads). Research has shown that in general there are economies of scale in livestock production - that is the larger the farm, the lower cost of production and the higher the returns. However,it is not clear whether this is also the case for duck farming in the Philippines.The objectives of this study are to compare financial performance across farm sizes, as well as identify production and marketing issues facing producers and make appropriate policy recommendations to improve farm performance. Survey data were collected from two hundred and fifty duck producers in Iloilo, Nueva Ecija, Pampangga and Quezon provinces in the Philippines in 2003.In survey, farmers were asked about their socio-demographic and farm characteristics and their inputs and output associated with duck production, as well as problems which they had encounter in the production and marketing of duck eggs.Preliminary results show that 18%, 41%, 22% and 19% of farms were classified as backyard (1-99), small(100-499), medium( 500-999), and large(1000 and above), respectively. However, farm size matters in terms of flock performance, record-keeping, access to capital and product proposal, but not financial returns.