PROFITABILITY AND RESOURCE USE EFFICIENCY OF LAYER FARMING IN SELECTED AREA OF BANGLADESH

Abstract

Bangladesh is graduating from least developed country (LDC) to developing country and Poultry sector as a sub-sector of agriculture plays a crucial role to create employment and income in the context of this country. The present study was conducted to delineate the socio-economic characteristics of the layer farmers, to estimate the costs, returns and profitability of layer enterprise and to determine the contribution of the key variables to the production of layer farms. For achieving these objectives, 60 layer farms were selected randomly from Kaliganj upazila of Lalmonirhat District. Both tabular and econometric techniques were used to find out the results.The average number of farm was 1250. Costs and returns were calculated separately through tabular analysis to find out the profitability of layer production. The results of the analysis showed that on average total cost of layers per farm per year was Tk 18,34,406. It was found that the variable cost per farm per year stood at Tk. 16,91,440.72 which accounted for 91.89 percent of total cost. The total fixed cost per farm per year accounted to Tk. 1,49,242. It is evident from the study that the gross return per farm per batch stood at Tk. 21,42,492. The net return over total cost per farm per year was calculated at Tk. 3,01,809. The benefit cost ratios of layer farming were 1.26 on variable cost basis and 1.17 on total cost basis. Findings of the study clearly indicated that layer production was a profitable enterprise. Cobb-Douglas production function analysis was used to estimate the contribution of the key variables of the production of layer farms. The functional analysis indicated that most of the selected variables had significant impact on the production of layer farms. This study also identified some economic, marketing, technical, social and natural problems in layer production. Finally, on the basis of findings of this study, some recommendations were made for the development of layer farming in Bangladesh.