Production and Economic Analysis of Beef Cattle Production. The Case of Adama District East Shewa, Ethiopia

Abstract

The study examined the cost and return of beef fattening in Adama town, Oromia region, which focused on profitability of the beef fattening and factors militating against beef fattening in the study area. Data were collected from a random sample of 112 beef fatteners through stratified sampling technique to which questionnaires were administered. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics to describe the constraint associated with beef fattening, and Gross Margin was used to determine the profitability of beef fattening. The fattening cost consisted of variable and fixed cost. The cost of various inputs such as feed, veterinary care, labor, and transportation, water cost and miscellaneous were considered as a variable cost. Fixed costs included the cost of the beef, and construction of cowshed. The average fattening costs per farm were 384172birr, 481058birr, and 838950 birr for small, medium and large farms respectively. The average fattening costs per cattle were 14228 birr, 13744 birr, and 14981 birr for small, medium and large farms respectively. The major problems facing the farmers included high cost of feeds, inadequate credit facilities, and inadequate veterinary service. The calculated benefit cost (B:C) ratio were 1:1.08, 1:1.12, and 1:1.13 for small, medium and large farms respectively. Furthermore, the finding of this study indicated that beef fattening business was revealed to be profitable and worth venturing into as a source of income. A policy and research emphasis should be geared toward feeds production at affordable price to the fatteners and fatteners should be educated on how to formulate local feeds to reduce cost and access to feeds for better efficiency. On top of that, farmers should be enlightened on the availability of credit in order to increase their capital base to expand their scale of production.