Socioeconomic perspectives of broiler farming in Peninsular Malaysia

The chief constraint in Malaysian broiler production has been the high cost of feeds; any attempt to explore avenues of increased productivity is indeed imperative. Farmers’ socioeconomic attributes and agricultural productivity are related concepts; farmers’ attributes are among the many factors that drive agricultural productivity. This study identified the pattern of socioeconomic attributes of the farmers and used the attributes to test for mean difference or association in broiler output and mortality. Cross sectional data were collected from 328 broiler farms in 9 states of peninsular Malaysia in 2013. Categories of farmers’ socioeconomic attributes such as age, education, system of broiler production, broiler production experience, business status, farmland status and number of broiler farms owned were assessed against broiler output and broiler mortality. The majority (69%) of the farmers were more than 40 years, 91% male, 59% with above 10 years of production experience, 83% educated not beyond secondary level and only 10% produced at large scale. Except in Johor, states did not show significant association between the socioeconomic variables and broiler output and mortality, hence the data were pooled. We found evidence that 7 socioeconomic variables (production experience, farmland status and scale of production (p<0.01), production system, age and number of farms (p<0.05) and business status (p<0.10) affected broiler output. Similarly, the study found only 2 socioeconomic variables: system of production and education (p<0.01) affected broiler mortality. The study demonstrates that socioeconomic attributes are imperative in broiler production. We recommend that farmers adopt large scale broiler production, close production system, broiler contract farming and obtain at least secondary education as socioeconomic avenues to enhance broiler productivity.