{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.017595307917888565, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0017595307917888563, 'mean_word_length': 5.272058823529412, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
PERFORMANCE AND EFFICIENCY MEASURES OF LAYER PRODUCTION ENTERPRISES IN THE ASHANTI REGION OF GHANA

Poultry production in Ghana has been constrained by several factors including high production cost and competition from imports. To be competitive and remain viable over the long haul, poultry agribusinesses would have to be efficient and profitable. The scale and size of agribusinesses play a role in their overall performance and sustainability. Given that the fact that commercial layer bird production in Ghana is dominated by small and medium scale enterprises, this paper sought to evaluate the financial viability and efficiency levels of these enterprises through a comparative analysis. The study was conducted in five districts of the Ashanti Region of Ghana, which has a large share of commercial layer bird production. A multi-stage technique was used to sample data from 100 layer bird farmers. The farm budgetary technique was used to ascertain the profitability of enterprise whiles a t-test was conducted to compare the efficiency measures of the categories of layer enterprises. Findings from the study revealed that commercial layer bird production is a viable agribusiness venture with positive gross margins and net farm income. The major drivers of production cost were the variable cost (feed, day-old-chicks, medication, and hired-labor). A comparative analysis of selected economic parameters indicates that medium scale farms are more efficient and have favorable gross margins, net farm income, rate of return on investment, profitability index, and benefit cost ratio. Similarly, the medium farms performed better on the production efficiency measures such as egg-lay rate, egg