Yüzüncü Yil Üniversitesi Tarim Bilimleri Dergisi (Mar 2020)
Response to Integrated Poultry-Vegetable Farming Practıce Advocacy in Delta State, Nigeria
Abstract
In response to climate change, poultry – vegetable integrated practice was introduced for the management of poultry wastes and to reduce pollution. The cost of chemical fertilizers and the health implications of consuming vegetables produced using chemical fertilizers has been a source of concern to health and nutrition stakeholders. In order to mitigate this problem, the use of organic fertilizers was advocated. This study was conducted to determine the response level poultry – vegetable integration farming practice among farmers in Delta State, Nigeria. The data for the study was elicited from 192 randomly selected registered poultry farmers, with the use of questionnaire and structured interview schedule. The data were analyzed with the application of descriptive statistics such as frequency counts, percentages and means derived from 4 – point Likert – type scale and 5 – point Likert scale. The hypothesis that the socioeconomic attributes of farmers do not contribute to their practice of poultry-vegetable integrated farming was tested with the application of regression model. The farmers had a mean age of 45.1 years and poultry farm size average of 5571 birds with mean household size of 6 persons and means farming experience of 23.5 years. Most of them subscribed to membership of farmers’ groups had 2 times contact with extension agents monthly. Their responses to poultry – vegetable integrated farming was encouraging as they had adoption index of 0.51. The problems they had ranged from high cost of inputs, pests and diseases infestation low market price to inadequate information. It is recommended that Delta Agricultural Procurement Agency be revived; extension agents should introduce integrated pest management and organic method of pests and diseases control: Marketing extension was also recommended.
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