Analysis of knowledge, attitude and practices of small ruminant farmers for training needs identification in Southwestern Nigeria

Abstract

The knowledge, skills and attitude of small ruminant farmers were studied to determine their training needs. Socio-economic characteristics of the small ruminant farmers, their knowledge, skills and attitude in small  ruminant  production were evaluated alongside their training needs. A multi-stage random sampling technique was used to select 183  respondents for the study. Pretested and duly validated (r = 0.76) interview schedule was used to  collect requisite information from the respondents. Data were summarized using frequency distribution and  percentages. Result of the analysis showed that mean age of the  respondents and annual income from small ruminant production were 50.4 years and N9, 041 respectively. Also, all the farmers were members of one  association or the other and 83.6 percent of them were educated. Majority of the farmers (71.6%) had extension agents as information source on small ruminant production. Furthermore, the mean scores of farmers’ knowledge was highest in identification of sick animal (9.1) and lowest in vaccination (1.3) while the mean scores of farmers’ skill was highest in feeding of animals (4.3) and lowest in health management (2.5). Majority (73.2%) of the  farmers had indifferent attitude towards small ruminant production. The identified training needs included   construction of small ruminant houses, drug selection and administration, record keeping and vaccination. The study concluded that training programme specialists and policy makers should inculcate the aforementioned identified training needs in conducting training  programmes for small ruminant farmers for better production and greater return on investment.

Keywords: Sheep and goat, Needs analysis