AWARENESS OF FARMERS REGARDING HYGIENIC HANDLING OF THEIR CATTLE TO PREVENT ZOONOTIC DISEASES

Abstract

Villagers have got the habit to remain in close contact with their cattle which may lead to spread of zoonotic diseases. Once concept of hygienic animal handling is assessed, effective measures can be taken to prevent the zoonotic transmission of diseases. With this aim, 270 farmers from nine villages of nine Gram Panchayet of Murarai-II block of Birbhum district, West Bengal, India were selected randomly. They were personally interviewed with twelve questions related with such knowledge. A score of 1 was given for correct answer and 0 for other answer including wrong and unknown answer. After analysis of data, a mean score of 7.96 was obtained by the farmers. Only significantly higher result was scored by the age group of 20-30 years farmers but in the rest age groups there were no significant differences. Positive correlation was observed between the knowledge score and education level. Better knowledge score was noted among the farmers having more number of animals. Male respondents and respondents having training related to animal husbandry scored better (P <_ 0.05). In the present study most of the farmers found to have minimum knowledge about the hygienic handling of their cattle.

Keywords

• Zoonosis
• Hygiene
• Knowledge
• Cattle owner