Determinants of profitability of broiler production in the Ngaka Modiri Molema District, North West Province, South Africa

The study examined the determinants of profitability of broiler production in Ngaka Modiri Molema District of North West Province, South Africa. A total of 100 small and emerging broiler farmers were selected from the district and a structured questionnaire was used to collect data and analyzed using version 21 of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) computer programme Graphs, histograms and tables were used to present frequency of the variables. About 54% of the farmers were males; 45% of them in the 50-59 years age category and majority (70%) of the farmers were married. The results also show that 98% of the farmers worked on their personal lands; 69% of the broiler farmers were full time farmers; 79% of them own land sizes of 6 to 10 hectares; all of the farmers bought day-old chick for fattening; 73% of them produced on small scale; 99% of the farmers paid R5 per day old chick and 85% of the farmers' families assisted in the running of the farms; 61% of the farmers made use of hired labor. The majority (84%) of the broiler farmers used personal capital; 93% of the farmers sold the broilers by themselves; 96% of the farmers found it difficult to enter the high value markets; 90% of the farmers experienced financial problems; all the farmers (100%) had security problems and animal health/poultry disease problems on the farms. Significant determinants following the regression analysis were:educational level (t = 2.022, p = 0.029), household size (t = 1.897, p = 0.061), membership of cooperative (t = 2.987, p = 0.004) and sources of labor (t = 3.238,p = 0.002). These findings imply that the farmers need more skills training, should be encouraged to be members of cooperative and that all the farmers should source labor.