The study examines the profitability and efficiency of broiler and egg production enterprises in Niger State, Nigeria during the 2011 production season. Farm level data were collected from 120 broiler and 120 layer farmers in the State using a well structured questionnaire. Multi-stage random sampling technique was used to elicit primary data from 240 respondents. The stochastic frontier profit function was used to examine the economic efficiencies of broiler and layer farms. Both broiler and layer farmers are not fully economically efficient. The mean economic efficiencies of broiler and egg enterprises are 0.52 and 0.75 respectively. This implies that there is a wide scope for increasing farm profit by reallocating the existing resources more optimally. Access to credit was found to increase economic efficiency of broiler enterprise (-0.1893) but decrease economic efficiency in egg enterprise (0.4922). The result also shows that the coefficient of membership of cooperative (-0.4320) increases economic efficiency in egg production enterprise while household size (0.0661) reduces economic efficiency. Therefore the study recommends that credit should be made available at terms and times convenient to farmers to enhance their level of efficiency. Farmers should also form cooperative societies to enable them have access to productive inputs to aid large scale operation. Extension services should be improved and intensified to impact economic knowledge on farmers. This should include creating awareness for the women farmers to know the profit potentials of broiler farming so that they could be encouraged to undertake the enterprises.
