Solar-assisted poultry production in small-scale farms: a case study in the Bekaa semi-arid region, Lebanon

Background

In Lebanon, poultry production is one of the major components of the agricultural sector; however, it suffers from increasing energy costs necessary to cover poultry heating requirements. This affects the profits of brooding farms, namely, small-scale farms in rural areas. Few studies have addressed the use of renewable energy in the poultry industry in Lebanon, with most having focused on modelling ventilation and air quality requirements in poultry houses. Therefore, there is a need to investigate the efficiency of renewable energy sources in providing heating requirements for poultry production. Accordingly, this study evaluates the performance of a solar-assisted, localized heating system in providing heat requirements for chicks in a renovated green poultry house in the Bekaa semi-arid rural region in Lebanon. For this aim, two brooding cycles were conducted during the warm and cold seasons in a greenhouse and were later replicated in a conventional poultry house.

Results

The energy inputs in the green and conventional houses, respectively, were 33,995.39 and 40,656.97 MJ (1000 birds)⁻¹ in the warm season, and 37,058.25 and 45,770.05 MJ (1000 birds)⁻¹ in the cold season. Calculated energy efficiency values for the green and conventional poultry houses were, respectively, 0.58 and 0.50 in the warm season, and 0.46 and 0.41 in the cold season. The net return was negative for both systems and the benefit-to-cost ratio from broiler production was calculated to be 0.49 and 0.50 in the green and conventional houses, respectively. Life cycle cost analysis showed that adopting the green heating system in the studied farm would entail an 18.89% increase in cost over a period of 20 years as compared to the conventional system.

Conclusion

It was concluded that poultry production is not profitable in small-scale farms in the studied area in Lebanon. The use of renewable energy might be more suited for large-scale broiler operations to achieve their purpose in reducing overall production costs. Optimization of the green system to fully satisfy the poultry energy requirements would render it more economically competitive.