Using data from 104 small scale poultry farmers in Oyo state
of Nigeria, this study examined the role of poultry production
in rural poverty reduction. The results show that majority of
the farmers were male (87 percent), married (87 percent),
having family size of 5 to 7 persons (53 percent), above 44
years of age with farming experience of 7.5 years on average
and with formal education (95 percent). The average net farm
income (NFI) is N788,164 per annum indicating that, the
business is worth investing in. Poverty incidence, poverty
depth, and severity of poverty are 49 percent, 23 percent and
13 percent respectively, the poor farmers need to generate an
additional 23 percent of the fixed amount of income to cross
the threshold of poverty. The result showed that male headed
households and farmers without tertiary education are poorer.
Poultry income and education level of the household head have
significant, negative effects on poverty status of the households
indicating that, additional increase in these variables will
reduce the probability of being poor.