ECONOMIC OF BACKYARD POULTRY IN TEHSIL MATTA DISTRICT SWAT

This study examined the economic of backyard poultry production in rural areas of Tehsil Matta District Swat in 2006 (study year). The basic objective of the study was to determine the profitability of backyard poultry production. Primary and secondary data were collected during the study; primary data through personal interview with the respondents (farmers), using well-structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics such as tables, frequency distribution, and percentages were used to present the socio-economic characteristics of the poultry farmers. The analysis showed that 30 per cent of the respondents were males and 70 per cent were females. OLS estimation technique was used to estimate the cost function . The coefficients of the estimated cost function is the elongated S-shaped and hence consistent with the cost theory. From the value of the coefficient of determination (R^2) it can be said that the cubic model is the best fit and the independent variable (output of bird) explains 90% variation in total cost. Also the profit model was used to determine the impact of price per egg, price per bird and cost per bird. The model suggests that the price per egg and price per bird are statistically significant while the cost per bird was statistically non significant. Finally it is recommended that high producing strains like Fayumi and RIR be introduced for improving the production performance of household poultry. Also Government may encourage private sector for availability of balance feed in the study area to boost productivity of the backyard poultry farming.