| dc.description.abstract | The subject matter of this study is the actual and potential
profitability of small-scale pig farms in Nyeri District. Two
aspects are therefore analysed - the positive and normative. Firstly
an attempt is rnade to analyse enterprises as they are found on the
farms. Secondly a linear prograrrming model (Ll?) is used to reorganize
enterprises on the farms so that better total gross margins can be
obtained by farmers. This analysis helps to show what ought to be
done on the farms under stated conditions to max~nize profits.
Residual accounting, feed conversion ratios (CR), confidence intervals,
gross margins and linear programming represent the main analytical
procedures.
Two specific hJ~theses are formulated for the study. The first
one is that pig production is profitable on small-scale farms in Nyeri
District under the current situation. The second states that the
profitability of the pig enterprise depends largely on the feed conversion
ratio.
The residual accounting procedure results indicate that on
average farmers did not make a profit on their farms for the year
under study when capital investment is taken into consideration. p...s
a result farmers on average showed negative labour earnings . On the
other hand feed conversion ratio resul.ts showed that when the
prevailing feed coriversion ratios are used in the a.nalysis, 46 percent
of farmers get negative gross margins for the pig enterprise. However,
when the best conversion ratio (1:3.52) that ~~ obtained on the s~~le
farms is used, 96 percent of farmers get positive gross ITargin for the
pig enterprise.
The average pig holding had.a negative gross ~~gin. TI1is is
attributable to excessively high operaional costs. Coffee 811erges
_as the most profitable crop in both farm size strata in the sample.
This is mainly due to the high coffee prices obtained in the boom
year, ]97i-;/77. Other reasons that influence the
of the pig enterprise and coffee enterprise are fully explored in the
An IF model was used in tV,Q analyses. In the first a pig act.ivi t.y
wi th negative gross margin that was observed for the sample is
included. In the second an improved pig activity with a positive
gross margin is used. The pig activity with a negative gross
rn.rg in was included so that the opportunt ty cost effect of this
activity on the overall opt irna.I program could be assessed, if it ",ere
in fact forced in. Of course an activity with a negative gross
margin wi Tl not show in an optirnal program. The results of the
analysis show that Small-scale pig production is not profitable
under the current situation. It can only be profitable if the pig
enterprise gross margin increases, particularly through greater
feed conversion efficiency, and labour is not a limiting factor.
Therefore in the light of these findings h~~thesis 1 mentioned
previously is unacceptable while hypothesis 2 can be accepted without
reservation. The LP analysis reveals the need to increase land area
on the average sized ~~ll farm,and to overcome ~ts seasonal labour
constraints. This leads to the important recommendation that ways and
means should be found as soon as possible of relaxing the effects of
resource constraints on the farms, so as to permit more profitable
organization. In order to ensure that farmers achieve high levels
of efficiency in small-scale pig production, continuing socio-economic
research is necessary, especially at the f~~ level, to keep farmers
informed about the best ways of combining resources and enterprises
under their present conditions, reflecting more profit role resource
combinations. | en |
