Bio-Security Measures Employed by Poultry Farmers in Enugu State Nigeria

Abstract

Diseases remain one of the major threats to boosting poultry production in Nigeria. Initially vaccinations were one of the methods in controlling poultry diseases. Unfortunately there has been high vaccination failure partly because of poor storage due to epileptic nature of electricity supply in Nigeria. There is therefore need for alternative measures to control diseases and effective biosecurity practices is one way to ensure this. This study sought to ascertain biosecurity measures used by poultry farmers in Enugu State, Nigeria. Multistage sampling technique was used to select 120 poultry farmers. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis were used to analyse data and present results for the study. The mean age of respondents was 47 years while farming experience was 9.6 years. Almost all (97.5%) the respondents had one form of formal education. Majority of the farmers sourced biosecurity information from co-poultry farmers (87.7%) and veterinary officers (81.4%). Major bio-security measures used by farmers include: inspection of flock daily to pick mortalities (=3.7), isolation and quarantine of sick birds (=3.7), vaccination of birds (=3.6), adequate cleaning of feeding and drinking troughs (=3.6). Age (t = 2.204; p = 0.000), farming experience (t = 2.653; p = 0.012), number of social organization belonged to (t = -2.018; p = 0.052) and farm income (t = 2.794; p = 0.009) had a positive relationship with use of biosecurity measures. Use of battery cage system (t= -0.358; p=0.013) and use of deep litter combine with battery cage systems (t=-0.536; p=0.001) had a negative influence on the use of biosecurity practices. Therefore extension workers should make it a point of duty to educate farmers on the importance and use of biosecurity measures for optimum production.