Analysis of Technical Efficiency of Smallholder Indigenous Chicken Keepers in Meru County, Kenya

The objective of this study was to analyze the technical efficiency of smallholder indigenous chicken keepers in Meru County of Kenya. The County lies on the Eastern side of Kenya’s Central highlands at 0^o, 38 00^o E, and covers 6936.4 Km².Data were collected through a cross-sectional survey from 90 (30 Ng’onyi, 30 Ntalami and 30 Kangeta villages) randomly sampled farms using semi-structured questionnaires. Data analysis was carried out using the SPSS and Frontier 4.1 c computer softwares. Stochastic frontier production function was estimated using the maximum likelihood estimation technique. The farms were characterized and their technical efficiencies estimated. Results revealed that the indigenous chicken keeping households owned an average of 17 at a time, after selling out about 15 for incomes. They produced an average of 500 eggs per annum, with each hen producing about 45. Households consumed both eggs and chicken. The value of the sold and consumed eggs as well as sold chicken was Ksh. 17 715 (1 USD= Ksh. 107). Most household heads were married (85%), with 70% aged between 36 and 65 years. A majority of the farmers were literate (90%). Over 75% of the households had between 3 and 6 persons. The average size of land owned was 1.33 acres. It’s only 9% of farmers who were satisfied with farming. Decrease in land size prompted households to increase the flock sizes (tended towards commercialization). The number of live chickens sold correlated positively with increase in the number of indigenous chickens kept, but inversely proportional to land size owned. The study established that farmers operated at 74.83% technical efficiency implying that they could increase their flock from an average of 17 to 23 through better use of available resources, given the current state of technology without extra cost. It was recommended that since market for live indigenous chicken was in existence, approaches that assist in improving the chicken population be adopted. Use of genetically improved indigenous breeds, improvement of chicken housing, supplementing the free-range feed with concentrate feed, improving egg hatchability and chick survival, require being considered. Improving farmer knowledge through better public extension service would be a pre-requisite for increased number of indigenous chicken flock size.