Financial and economic feasibility for typical rabbit production units in three Mexican regions

Abstract

Rabbit farming in Mexico is an activity that presents a potential demand with a high level of productive and technical feasibility; despite this, it has not been possible to consolidate this type of farming due to management, health, genetic, and nutritional issues that have had repercussions in economic and marketing failures. The objective of this study was to know the factors that affect the financial and economic feasibility of rabbit units by constructing three Typical Production Units (TPU) for rabbit production in three Mexican States: Jalisco, Mexico City (formerly the Federal District), and the State of Mexico. The TPUs showed 5, 6, and 7.5 deliveries per female per year, with annual productions of between 74 and 86 kilograms of live rabbit per female per year. The financial costs per kilogram were US $ 2.37, US $ 1.77, and US $ 1.56, and the economic costs were US $ 3.38, US $ 3.06, and US $ 2.95, respectively. Production costs showed that the three TPUs are financially but not economically feasible at current market prices. Financial feasibility refers to competitive advantage (the ability to compete in the economic environment they face). However, these TPUs will not survive in the long term since they are not economically feasible, which indicates that their production factors (capital, labor, and land) are used inefficiently. In view of the above, improvements in health, management, and good productive and administrative practices must be integrated in order to strengthen productivity and economic efficiency