Socio-economic factors influencing small ruminants management practices in Kaduna State

Abstract

Socio-economic factors influencing small ruminants management practices in Kaduna State were investigated. One hundred and twenty questionnaires were administered to randomly selected small ruminants farmers in Giwa LGA of Kaduna State. Tools of analysis include descriptive statistics, the Pearson's correlation and stepwise regression procedures. Analysis revealed that certain socio-economic characteristics of respondents such as age, income, flock size, investment, veterinary visits, education, number of small ruminants started with, household size and experience are significantly related to small ruminant management practices. All the predictive variables (age, income, flock size, investment, etc.) contribute about 44% of the variance with household size, stock-owner's experience and number of small ruminants started with, contributing 29.6% of the variance. Constraints with small ruminants production were more of management.

Key words: Small ruminants; socio-economics; management practices; constraints

Moor Journal of Agricultural Research Vol.4(2) 2003: 274-280