Awareness of poultry farmers on biosafety practices against infectious diseases in Kano State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined the awareness level of poultry farmers on biosafety practices on infectious diseases in Kano state, Nigeria. A two-stage sampling procedure was used in selecting 166 respondents through the use of questionnaire. The data were analysed using mean, percentages, and standard deviation. The result showed that the main sources of awareness of biosafety practices were mass media (48.8%), family/friends/neighbours (25.9%) and poultry farmers’ association (PAN) (11.4%). Awareness of biosafety were in the following component cleaning (low pressure washer ( x̄ =1.602) and hand washing after toileting (x̄ =1.789), disinfection covering feeds in the store (x̄ =1.560), manure management (x̄ =1 .608) and removal of dead carcasses (x̄ =1.530). component. At segregation and traffic control all the subcomponents were known except; banning keeping of birds at home (x̄ =1.114), exclusion of rodents & wild birds (x̄ =1.054) and presence of buffer areas around the farm (x̄=1.000). The Majority of the respondents claimed very low levels of awareness of biosafety practices (81.9%), major constraints to biosafety practices among the clienteles were; complexity of the biosecurity, inadequate capital (93.4%) and high cost of the biosafety practices (83.1%). Awareness level of the respondents should be improved upon through sensitization and provision of more extension services in addition to the mass media effort.