Abstract
The study assessed the effects of climate change on poultry production in Ondo State, Nigeria. Eighty three (83) 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 (93.3%) of the respondents are aware of climate change, 78%, 98.8% and 86.7% of the respondents agreed that temperature fluctuation, increased in sunshine intensity and global warming has a negative effects on poultry production, 72.4% of the respondents agreed that prices of feed grains are usually high in hot and dry seasons which may affect cost of production and number of birds to raise for egg and meat production in the farm, 73.5% of the respondents agreed that climate change has effect on feed grain availability, this implies that high temperature and low rainfall are climatic factors that affect general grain harvest, their supply to the market and ultimately cost of poultry production. the findings further revealed that 94% of the respondents agreed that climate change affects egg and meat production pattern and 95.2% of the respondents agreed that moist climatic conditions encouraged the distribution and development of diseases. 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 = 0.454, p= 0.001), the results also revealed there is a significant relationship between socio-economic characteristics of respondents and their level of awareness of climate change since the p > 0.05 (r = 0.652, p= 0.001). 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. Key words: Climate, Climate change, Temperature, Poultry, Farmers, Perception.
Highlights
The study assessed the effects of climate change on poultry production in Ondo State, Nigeria
On the educational level of the respondents which directly influence the farmers’ ability to adequately keep record and make observation on how climate change influences their poultry production pattern, the table shows that only 42.2% of the respondents have tertiary education while 38.5% did not have any formal education
The result in table 4 shows that majority (94%) of the respondents agreed that climate change affects egg and meat production pattern in the study area, in the same vein 78.4% of the respondents agreed that high temperature makes birds feed less and drink more water; this is because temperature reduces the feed intake of poultry birds and more energy is needed to conserve the heat caused by high temperature, a decreased in the rate of feed intake which results to decrease in egg and meat production (Elijah and Adedapo, 2006)
Summary
The study assessed the effects of climate change on poultry production in Ondo State, Nigeria. 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 = 0.454, p= 0.001), the results revealed there is a significant relationship between socio-economic characteristics of respondents and their level of awareness of climate change since the p > 0.05 (r = 0.652, p= 0.001). Elijah and Adedapo (2006) reported in his study that high rainfall and relative humidity provides a conducive environment for breeding of parasites that causes outbreak of diseases which invariably reduces egg production They further reported that temperature reduces the feed intake of poultry birds because more energy is needed to conserve the heat caused by high temperature, a decreased in the rate of feed intake. The hypothesis tested include the relationship between selected socio-economic characteristics of poultry farmers and their perceived effects on climate change; and the relationship between selected socio-economic characteristics of poultry farmers and their level of awareness of climate change
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