<p>&nbsp;           <b>TABLE OF CONTENTS</b>&nbsp;</p><p>Title Page.......................................................................................................................i Declaration....................................................................................................................ii Certification..................................................................................................................iii Dedication....................................................................................................................iv Acknowledgements......................................................................................................v&nbsp;</p><p>Table of Contents........................................................................................................vii&nbsp;</p><p>Lists of Tables...............................................................................................................x&nbsp;</p><p>List of Figure................................................................................................................xi Abstract........................................................................................................................xii&nbsp;</p><p>

Chapter 1

Introduction.......................................................................................................1&nbsp;</p><p>1.1 Background of Information...............................................................................1</p><p>&nbsp;1.2 Problem Statement.............................................................................................2&nbsp;</p><p>1.3 Objective of the Study.......................................................................................5&nbsp;</p><p>1.4 Justification of the Study......................................... .........................................6&nbsp;</p><p>1.5 Hypothesis.........................................................................................................7&nbsp;</p><p>

Chapter 2

Literature Review...............................................................................................8&nbsp;</p><p>2.1&nbsp; Economic Importance of Poultry Production.....................................................8&nbsp;</p><p>2.2 Economies of Size in Poultry Production..........................................................10&nbsp;</p><p>2.3 Empirical Studies on Profitability of Poultry-Egg Production......................... 11</p><p>&nbsp;2.4 Conceptual of Framework................................................................................. 13&nbsp;</p><p>2.4.1 Concept of Technical Efficiency.......................................................................13&nbsp;</p><p>2.4.2 Factors Influencing Efficiency......................................................................15&nbsp;</p><p>2.5 Stochastic Frontier Production Function............................... .......................16&nbsp;</p><p> 2.5.1 The Stochastic Production Frontier Function................................................17&nbsp;</p><p>2.5.2 Application of the Stochastic Frontier Model................................................18&nbsp;</p><p>2.6 Problems Associated with Poultry Production...............................................20&nbsp;</p><p>

Chapter 3

Methodology...................................................................................................21&nbsp;</p><p>3.1 The Study Area................................................................................................21</p><p>&nbsp;3.2 Sampling Procedure.........................................................................................22&nbsp;</p><p>3.3 Method of Data Collection...............................................................................22&nbsp;</p><p>3.4 Analytical Techniques......................................................................................23&nbsp;</p><p>3.4.1 Descriptive Statistics............................................... ........................................23&nbsp;</p><p>3.4.2 Farm Budgeting Techniques.............................................................................23&nbsp;</p><p>3.4.3 Stochastic Frontier Production Function..........................................................26&nbsp;</p><p>3.4.4 5-Point Likert Scale...........................................................................................28&nbsp;</p><p>3.5 Definition and Measurement of Variables.........................................................28&nbsp;</p><p>

Chapter 4

&nbsp;</p><p> Results and Discussion......................................................................................30&nbsp;</p><p>4.1 Socio-economic Characteristics of Poultry-Egg Producers..............................30&nbsp;</p><p>4.1.1 Age Distribution of the Respondents................................................................30&nbsp;</p><p>4.1.2 Educational Status of the Respondents................................. ...........................31</p><p>&nbsp;4.1.3 Farming Experience of the Respondents..........................................................31&nbsp;</p><p>4.1.4 Gender..............................................................................................................32&nbsp;</p><p>4.1.5 Household Size of the Respondents.................................................................33&nbsp;</p><p>4.1.6 Marital Status of the Respondents....................................................................33&nbsp;</p><p>4.1.7 Membership of Cooperative Society.................................................................34&nbsp;</p><p>4.2 Scale of Operation of Poultry-Egg Production in the Study Area.....................34&nbsp;</p><p>4.3 Cost, Returns and Profitability of Poultry-Egg Production in the Study Area.....................................................-.........................................................................................................35 <br></p><p> 4.4 Test of differences in profitability from the different farm sizes....................... 39&nbsp;</p><p>4.5 Technical Efficiency Analysis............................................................................ 40&nbsp;</p><p>4.5.1 Estimates of the Stochastic Production Function........................... ……………40&nbsp;</p><p>4.5.2 Technical Efficiency of the Poultry-Egg Producers according to Farm Size............................................................................................................ 42&nbsp;</p><p>4.6 Factors Influencing Technical Efficiency of Poultry-Egg Farmers..................... 44</p><p>&nbsp;4.7 Elasticity of Production and Returns to Scale...................................................... 45&nbsp;</p><p>4.8 Constraints to Poultry-Egg Production in the Study Area................................... 46&nbsp;</p><p>4.8.1 Limited Finance.................................................................................................... 46&nbsp;</p><p>4.8.2 High Costs Inputs................................................................................................. 47&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;Scarcity of Raw Materials for Plants, Fixtures, Building a Equipment.............................................................................................................4 7</p><p>&nbsp;4.8.5 Inadequate Storage Facilities................................................................................48&nbsp;</p><p>4.8.6 Other Problems.....................................................................................................48</p><p>&nbsp;

Chapter 5

Summary, Conclusion and Recommendation.......................................................50&nbsp;</p><p>5.1 Summary...............................................................................................................5 0 <br></p><p> 5.2 Conclusion............................................................................................................5&nbsp;</p><p>1 5.3 Recommendations................................................................................................5 2 References............................................................................................................5 4</p><p>&nbsp;Appendix 1..........................................................................................................63&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;Appendix 2...........................................................................................................64 <br></p>