Abstract
The study assessed the effects of climate change on poultry production in Benue State, Nigeria. One hundred and seventy nine (179) poultry farmers were interviewed to elicit relevant information in line with the objectives of the study. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistical tools were used for data analysis. Findings revealed that Majority (46.8%) of all the poultry farmers fall within 21-40 years age bracket .This results imply that poultry farmers in the area were above the dependent age. The average age of the respondents was 39.1 years and within the economically active age range. Majority of (52.5%) of the respondents were females and 47.5% were males. This means that poultry production is gender sensitive. The result showed that respondents have one level of education to the other, an indication that school leavers were no longer waiting for white kola jobs rather than engaged themselves in poultry production in the study area. The average start-up capital of the respondents was found to be N85,542, this may be due to the fact that majority of the respondents operate in small scale. Close to half (48.6%) of the respondents practiced intensive system of poultry production in the study area. with the mean years of awareness as 10.51. The findings further revealed that 90.9% of the respondents agreed that they are aware of climate change; this indicates that the majority of the poultry farmers in the study area have noticed variation in climatic elements. 85.9% of the respondents all agreed that temperature fluctuate in the study area. 72.6% of the respondents observed increased sunshine intensity in the study area and 76.3% agreed that distribution of rainfall follows normal distribution. 80.5% of the respondents agreed that global warming has effect on poultry production respectively. Inferential statistics shows that there is a significant relationship between respondents’ socio – economic characteristics and perception of poultry farmers on effects of climate change on poultry production since p > 0.05 (r = 0.544, p= 0.000). It is recommended extension agents and other development agencies need to educate the poultry farmers more about the effects posed by climate change on poultry production and intensify awareness campaign to poultry farmers on how to reduce the effects of climate change on poultry production.
Highlights
Background to the StudyINTRODUCTIONPoultry plays an important economic, nutritional and socio-cultural role in the livelihood of rural households in many developing countries, including Nigeria
Farmers perception according to Level of Awareness and Observed climatic Variation Table 3 shows that 90.9% of the respondents agreed that they are aware of climate change; this indicates that the majority of the poultry farmers in the study area have noticed variation in climatic elements and are likely to observe how it will affect the rate of survival and performance of their poultry production
The objective were to described of socio-economic characteristics of poultry farmers in the study area, level of awareness of climate change and perceived effects of climate change in the state
Summary
Poultry plays an important economic, nutritional and socio-cultural role in the livelihood of rural households in many developing countries, including Nigeria. Poultry are efficient converters of feed to egg and meat within a short period of time. The environmental conditions affecting the performance and health productivity of chicken include temperature, relative humidity, light, sunshine prevailing at a given time, housing system and ventilation (Elijah and Adedapo, 2006). According to Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR, 2010), as the ambient temperature increased to _34oC the mortality due to heat was significantly high in meat type chickens by 8.4%, the feed consumption of the chickens decreases from 108.3g/bird/day at 31.6oC to 68.9g/bird/day at 37.9oC, the egg production decreased by 6.4% as compared to their standard egg production
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