Adoption of improved poultry production practices by rural women in Imo State

Abstract

The Adoption of improved poultry production practices by rural women in Imo state was studied with the objectives of analyzing the socio-economic determinants of the adoption and making policy recommendations. Data were generated from 258 randomly sampled rural women from the three agricultural zones of the state with the aid of interview schedule and structured questionnaire. The analyses were with the aid of simple percentage, frequency table and ordinary least square regression technique at 0.05 level of significance. The results indicated varied rates of adoption of the practices with watering ranking 1 ^st with 83.7 percent, artificial brooding/heating 77.5 percent, 2^nd and supplementary feed/feeding 3^rd with 39.9 percent. The variables; education (x 2), income (x 5), farm size (x 6) and extension contact (x 6) were the determinants of adoption of the practices. Significant relationship was established between the socio-economic variables and the adoption of improved poultry production practices. It was recommended that extension education campaign should be intensified to avail rural women of new practices in poultry. Deployment of appropriate number of properly trained extension agents for adequate coverage of the state as well as research and extension agencies being guided by the socio-economic characteristics of the target population as well as bio-physical environmental considerations are needed.

Animal Production Research Advances Vol. 1(1) 2005: 39-44