Knowledge, attitudes and constraints faced by poultry workers in Kwara State, Nigeria

Management competencies of poultry workers have been identified to be crucial to successful poultry production, and many works have been carried out to determine the competencies of the poultry workers in poultry management. However, little attention has been paid to the knowledge, attitudes and constraints faced by these workers in poultry management, though, these are also crucial for a successful poultry enterprise. To bridge this gap, this research adopted a multi-stage sampling method to select its respondents; with the first stage involving the selection of 2 Local Government Areas from each of the four Agricultural Development Programme zones of Kwara State, Nigeria followed by a selection of 3 poultry farms from each of the selected Local Government Areas. In the last stage, a proportionate sampling of 70% of the sample population was used to select a total number of 156 poultry workers from all farms selected. Data collected were analyzed using frequency counts, percentages, mean statistics and Pearson Product Moment Correlation. Findings revealed that 70.5% of the respondents knew nothing about the poultry work before being employed, and their highest interval of training was monthly (49.4). They have a positive attitude towards the need for better motivation and treatment of the workers (4.69 and 4.72 respectively), while their major constraints to effective production were Insufficient training (2.90), Poor motivation (2.72), and little income received (2.57). Fortnight training and additional income, and other motivational benefits for the workers are recommended.