Examining the effect of farmer’s characteristics and production costs on the income of the layer chicken farm: on the lookout for an applicable management plan for boosting the breeder’s income

The poultry farming industry is a substantial contributor to Indonesia’s economy. It helps with the country’s food security policy, unemployment relief, and development strategy. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the effect of farmers’ characteristics and production costs on the income of layer chicken farms in Pinrang District, Indonesia. The binary logistic regression model was employed to meet the research objective. We then conducted a census of 109 layer chicken breeders to serve as the research respondents. Twelve independent variables were examined to analyze the direct effect of farmers’ characteristics and production costs on the income of layer chicken farms as the dependent variables. The research findings indicated that the variables of breeder experiences (BEX), cost of labor (COL), cost of seeds (COS), cost of feeds (COF), cost of electricity (COE), cost of vaccine (COC), and cost of vitamin (COV) had a significant effect on the income of layer chicken farms. Meanwhile, the independent variables of breeder age (BA), gender (G), breeder education (BE), capital (C), and cost of medicine (COM) had no significant effect. These findings provide essential and critical data and valuable insights for supporting and enhancing the breeder income of the layer chicken farm. The findings reasonably conclude that production cost management and the breeder experience primarily determine breeder income. As a result, some policy actions and a management plan were suggested to help breeders increase their profits as part of the livestock sector’s efforts to achieve sustainable production and a strategy for steady income. Generally, the breeders’ most significant policy goal is to reduce production costs. Prioritizing low-cost production management is crucial, particularly in lowering labor expenses, seeds, feeds, electricity, vaccines, and vitamins. Moreover, the breeder’s experience was an important thing to consider in increasing the breeder’s income. This implies that breeders should enhance their poultry management skills, especially in analyzing and managing production costs.