Prioritization of poultry farmers’ needs in Edo State

Abstract

The study identified and documented the needs of practicing Medium and Small Scale (MSS) poultry farmers domiciled in two Local Government Areas (LGA) of south southern Nigeria in the area of poultry management information as a veritable tool for enhanced productivity in the poultry industry. A multistage random sampling and snowball techniques were used to select the seventy (70) poultry farmers who participated in the survey. A researcher-made questionnaire was used to collect the data needed. The results revealed that the poultry farmers had a mean farm population size of nine hundred and ten birds (Mean value of X = 910.36), and low capital base as reflected by the type of the labour employed on the farm. 51.4 % were civil servants and 22.9 % were traders implying that a sum total of 74.3 % of the farmers in the study areas are part-time farmers while the remaining 25.7 % are full-time farmers. Results also showed that these poultry farmers needed a lot more information in management activities like vaccination, deworming, debeaking, provision of heat, culling of birds, provision of feeds, use of foot-baths etc, in that descending order of priority. In conclusion, the study showed that livestock extension has been neglected in these areas as in many other parts of the country compared with the agronomic sectors. There is an urgent need for the poultry farmers in these areas to be exposed to adequate, relevant (such as problems associated with diseases, biosecurity issues e.t.c.) and effective channels of getting modern information through policy makers, donors (private & public), extension agents and all stakeholders.

Keywords: Prioritization, Needs, Poultry Farmers Needs, Edo State, Poultry Farmers.