Constraints facing poultry producers in Iraq

Abstract

There is a decrease in poultry production in Iraq. The study was conducted in Babylon Province, Iraq; to identify constraints facing broiler producers. One hundred poultry producers were randomly selected. A list of 4 of constraints facing poultry producers: production, financial, marketing and institutional, covering 24 constraints was prepared. More than half of poultry producers indicated there was a high level of constraint facing them. Production, financial, and marketing constraints had high effect on producers. High cost of feed, competition from imported birds, price fluctuation, high cost of energy, inappropriate environmental conditions, continuous outage of electricity, high cost of drug and vaccines, high mortality rate, competition of birds from other province, lack of quality day old chicks from local hatcheries, lake of capital, poor extension service, production halls not utilized at full operating capacity, lack of quality feeds, and disease attack were the most severe constraints. Negative significant relationships exist between years of experience in poultry production, number of chicken sets/ year, training attendance and overall constraint score. There were differences between constraints severity depending on years of experience, number of chicken sets/ year, and training attendance. Challenges facing poultry producers can be addressed through active extension services.

Keywords: Challenges, Iraq, Management, Production constraints