Indigenous poultry production among rural households in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area, Rivers State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined indigenous poultry production among rural households in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area, Rivers State, Nigeria. The objectives were to: describe the socio-economic characteristics of indigenous poultry farmers; determine the benefits of indigenous poultry production; determine the status of indigenous poultry production and identify factors affecting production of indigenous poultry in the study area. Data were collected with structured questionnaire from 108 randomly selected poultry farmers out of which 81 questionnaires were found useful. Data were analyzed with the use of frequency, percentage, mean scores and chi-square tests. Findings show that benefits derived by respondents from indigenous poultry production were: cost intensive (x̄ = 3.81), less cost feed (x̄ = 3.49), hardly sick (x̄ = 3.32), no disease problem (x̄ =141.5), no drugs needed (x̄ =3.37) and no vet needed (x̄ =3.76). The result of chi-square tests showed that, status vs. purpose of keeping poultry (0.66) and status vs. how much made (0.66) were significant at X²_cal > X²t_ab. Factors affecting indigenous poultry production were: stealing (x̄ =3.54), lack of capital (x̄ =3.69), lack of information on price (x̄ =3.24), poor housing system (x̄ =3.51), poor management system (x̄ =3.51), lack of proper marketing structure for local birds (x̄ =3.061), predators (x̄ =3.86), price fluctuation (x̄ =3.45) and poor breeding stock (x̄ =3.37). The study recommends that since it has been confirmed that women dominate the production process, women’s access to production inputs and adequate care facilities should be improved. All forms of barriers against women should be discouraged especially when it comes to the area of production.

Keywords: Indigenous Poultry Production, Rural Households