Farmers Perception on Utilization of Kargo Pods (Piliostigma Reticulatum) as Small Ruminant Feed in the Semi-Arid Zone of Nigeria
Journal Title: Journal of Animal Production Advances - Year 2015, Vol 5, Issue 11
Abstract
A study was conducted to assess the level of involvement of Kargo pods as feedstuff for small ruminants in semi-arid zone of Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling technique was employed to select two hundred and fifty (250) small ruminant rearers within the study area. The results revealed that majority (61.20%) of the rearers were female, 43.20% were within the age grouped of 21-30 years, 38.40% remained married and all the respondents had certain level of literacy. Mainstream (42.08%) of the rearers were involved in crop-livestock farming as their primary occupation and 55.20% had rearing experience of 11-20 years. Preponderance (58.80%) of the rearers kept both sheep and goats with small flock/herd size under semi-intensive system and 58.80% of the rearers fed their animals from rangeland. Most (53.06%) of the respondents’ purchases their foundation stocks and their reasons of rearing both sheep and goats, or sheep only was income generation while those that kept goats only attributed it to easy management and high prolificacy of the animal. Numerous (94.40%) respondents acknowledged that farmers fed kargo to small ruminants and 86.00% of them had practice feeding kargo to their stocks with bulk (50%) of the respondent fed kargo pods only. Multitude (96.60%) of the respondents fed kargo pods in combination of other feed resources (Cereals and Legumes by-products) such as Millet bran (17.87%); Sorghum bran (14.06%); Groundnut hay (10.51%) among others. Majority (46.19%) fed kargo pods with other feed resource in ratios of 50:50, followed by those that fed 25:75 and 75:25, while only 8.47% fed kargo pods alone. Most (62.71%) of the rearers purchase kargo pods from children within their villages, at N10 to N25 price/kg while other collected kargo pods free of charge from farmlands. This study concluded that small ruminant rearers had positive perception on Kargo pods as feedstuff and the study recommended that kargo pods should be evaluated in combination with other different feeds resource for better utilization.
Authors and Affiliations
S. L. Abdurrahaman , I. R. Muhammad
Keywords
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