Elements of Opportunity and Poultry Farms Performance in Delta State, Nigeria

The paper examines the existence, if any, of differences in gross margin between rural and urban areas in Delta State, Nigeria. Data were collected from all 275 poultry farmers registered with the Delta State Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock Department. The null hypotheses was that there is no significant difference in poultry farm gross margin between locations in terms rural and urban areas; managers with formal education in agriculture and managers who have no formal education in agriculture; and managers who have and who do not have prior experience in poultry business. Data were collected from all 275 poultry farmers registered with the State Ministry Agriculture using copies of a structured questionnaire and were analyzed using frequency counts, means and T-test. Amongst the findings were: Majority of poultry business operators have low level formal education in disciplines not related to agriculture; there was a significant difference in the mean number of years of schooling and courses studied between rural and urban areas but that there was no significant difference in number of years of prior experience. The T-test results failed to reject the three null hypotheses. The study concluded that indeed elements of opportunity may vary from place to place but the ability to exploit the benefits may moderate or accentuate performance. Entrepreneurial capacity building was recommended for poultry business operators’ state wide.