Energy use and economic analysis of broiler production farms in Iran

The objective of this study was to determine the energy consumption per 1000 bird for the broiler production in Mazandaran province, Iran. The data were collected from 58farms by using a face-to-face questionnaire method during January February 2014. The collected information was analyzed using descriptive statistics, economic analysis and stochastic frontier production function. The production technology of the farmer wasassumed to be specified by the Cobble Douglas (CD) production function. Total inputenergy was found to be 186,885.87 MJ (1000 bird) while the output energy was27,461.21 MJ (1000 bird). The values of specific energy and energy ratio were calculated at 71.95 MJ kg and 0.15, respectively. The sensitivity of energy inputs was estimatedusing the marginal physical productivity (MPP) method. The MPP value showed the high impact of human labor and machinery energy inputs on output energy. Returns to scale (RTS) values for broiler were found to be 0.96; thus, there prevailed a decreasing RTS forthe estimated model. The net return was found positive, as 1386.53 $ (1000 bird) and the benefit to cost ratio from broiler production was calculated to be 1.38. The study revealed that production of meat was profitable in the studied area.

Keywords:

Broiler production , Energy indices , Mazandaran , Energy inputs , Economic analysis