Abstract
Record keeping is said to be a panacea to effective and efficient business profitability and poultry farming is not an exception. The study examined the behavior of poultry farmers towards farm record keeping in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Data were collected using questionnaires from 150 poultry farmers’ selected using random sampling procedure. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Likert Scale Rating Technique and Multiple Regression Analysis. Findings showed that the majority (57%) were into part time poultry production. Poultry records kept were production records (88%) financial records (80%) feed records (77.3%) staff personal or labor records (60%), health/vaccination (35.3%) and farm inventory records (46.7%). Majority (62.8%) kept daily records. Also, the majority (72.6%) kept records manually. Survey result further revealed that records were mostly kept for the following: analyzing the overall performance of the farm (86%), assistance in poultry management decision (82%) to help in ascertaining the financial performance of the farm (78%), farm planning and budgeting (76%), financial planning (74%), provision of information for credit condition and access (72%), assistance in proper staff management and personnel control (70%), provision of basis for comparing farms (66%), checkmating thieves and mortality (63%), revealing areas of farm’s weakness and strength (60%), a source of information for research and government administrative tools (50%), aid in projecting productivity (24%), usefulness in deterring tax and insurance (22%) and assistance in price determination (18%). Record keeping was influenced by educational attainment (P>0.05), flock size (P>0.05), years of farming experience (P>0.01), farming status (P>0.05), and access to credit (P>0.05). Additionally, record keeping was constrained by the subsistence nature of farming (mean = 3.32), lack of adequate sensitization and training on record keeping (mean = 3.2), time consuming and stressful (mean = 2.89), epileptic electric power supply (mean = 2.88), high level of computer illiteracy (mean = 2.84), high cost of keeping records, (mean = 2.82), lack of adequate record keeping skills (mean = 2.59) and fear of tax payment (mean = 2.52). It is therefore recommended that poultry farmers in the study area should be regularly sensitized on the need for record keeping as well as its importance.