Evaluation of the knowledge,attitudes and practises of poultry farmers on broiler chicken management in Busimbi Sub-county Mityana District Central Uganda

Abstract

Broiler production has of late been invested in by number of Ugandans as a way of getting out of poverty and as well provide food security, to evaluate the knowledge, attitudes and practices of poultry farmers on broiler chicken management is vital to provide clear information on how the sector is currently and what can be done to improve it. A cross sectional study was conducted in Busimbi sub county Mityana district, central Uganda in 10 rural villages from 3 parishes of Busimbi sub-county. A total of 150 respondents were used with the help of an interviewer administered semi structured questionnaires. The study revealed that; the knowledge of farmers on nutrition significantly contributed to the health of broiler birds and body weight of broiler birds. The attitudes of farmers such as the reasons for providing housing, the best housing management system, had a significant effect on the housing of broiler birds. Farmers’ practices such as measures for controlling disease spread on the farm, source of day old broiler birds, source of drugs used for treating different diseases had a significant effect on the health of broiler birds. According to the findings the recommendations were that: More trainings should be carried out in other areas like brooding, disease control since most of the farmers had training in only one field which is nutrition. Farmers should continue taking up the deep litter system since the materials used are readily available. Further research should be carried out on the diseases that are faced by many of the broiler farmers in the area and also farmers sensitized on the predisposing factors for particular diseases.