COMPARATIVE PROFITABILITY ASSESSMENT OF GOAT AND SHEEP PRODUCTION: ALTERNATIVE DECISION FOR SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC RECOVERY IN PANKSHIN LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF PLATEAU STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study examines comparative profitability assessment of goat and sheep production in Pankshin Local Government Area of Plateau State, Nigeria. Data was randomly collected from 128 respondents in four districts purposely selected, through administration of structured questionnaire. The data was analysed using discrete statistics and farm budget analysis. The result revealed that production and movement of the animals to the final consumer displayed a perfectly competitive structure where there were many producers and many buyers, no barrier to entry and exit, and prices were determined by haggling. Cost of production for goat and sheep in the study area were N87,000 and N79,000 with total revenue of N106,500 and N85,000 respectively. The difference in gross margin was N12,500 in favour of goat farmers. The returns on capital invested on goat and sheep were 2.24 and 0.08 with a difference of 2.16 in favour of goat breed. Based on the findings, it is concluded that the profitability indicators are in favour of goat production over sheep. However, other profitability indicators may favour sheep if government and other financial institutions will give assistance to goat and sheep farmers in the form of soft loans to increase their capital base for large scale production.