Perception of ethno-veterinary practices in selected villages in Ogun State

Abstract

The study was designed to examine perception of ethno-veterinary practices and information gathering among rural dwellers in selected villages in two local government areas (LGAs) of Ogun state, Nigeria. The aim was to assess the involvement of rural poultry farmers in the use of herbs as alternatives to  antibiotics. A multi-stage sampling technique was employed to administer one hundred and fifteen structured questionnaires while participatory rural appraisal group discussion was also conducted.  Results showed that66.70 % female   respondents were mainly involved in rural poultry production than their   malecounterparts (33.30 %) in Ifo LGA while 52.20 % (male) and 47.80 5 (female) was observed in Odeda LGA. Backyard and free-range system of management (44.9 and 46.70 %) was prominent in both LGAs (Odeda and Ifo respectively) than the conventional system.  Poultry birds were raised for income, household consumption and festivity. Results further revealed that traditional remedies were more preferred because they are locally available, cultural, effective and cheaper relative to modern veterinary animal health care practice. It was therefore concluded that to improve poultry health and production, local knowledge of medication through herbs should be gathered and used as basis for development of drugs and conduct research programs to study clinical actions of these plant extracts and categorize active ingredients.

Keywords: Rural dwellers, herbs, Phytobiotics and Ethno-veterinary.