CHAPTER ONE
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Background Information
Poultry
farming is the practice of raising domesticated birds such as chicken, turkey,
duck, geese, pheasant, guinea fowl etc. as a subcategory of animal husbandry
for the purpose of producing meat and egg for food and other by-products such
as droppings, feathers as raw materials for industries. Poultry refers to
domesticated birds that are reared majorly for meat and egg and sometimes,
other by-products. In Agricultural resource management study (ARMS) formally
known as farm cost and returns survey (FCRS) poultry include oestriches and
other game birds but most operation raise only one specie of poultry for single
purpose e.g. farmers keep laying hen to
produce egg for human consumption or for breeding purpose. Some raise starter,
pullets and others concentrate on raising chickens or turkey for meet
production. (U.S. Department of Commerce, 1954).
The
three most common species of poultry are domesticated fowl, duck and turkey;
few breeds of chicken are Andalusian, Orpintons which are made up of white, black
and buff orpingtons, leghorns, Plymouth Rock etc. breeds of turkey include
Norfolk turkey which is black with spotted white wing, Cambridge turkey, a
bronze grey bird larger and leggier than the Norfolk. Breeds of duck; buff
orpington duck, pelkin duck also known as the island duck, Australian spotted,
American black etc. (Noris 2005). Since domestic fowl accounts for over 90% of
the total number of poultry across the globe, more emphasis will be placed on
domesticated fowl in the course of this study.
More
than 50 billion chickens are reared annually all over the world as a source of
food (poultry farming – wikiedia, 2011). This is attributed to the importance
of poultry products in terms of its nutritional values such as quality protein,
liquids, carbohydrate, multitude of vitamins, minerals, cholesterols and
pigments (Izunobi, 2002). Research has shown that in Nigeria poultry as a
source of meat supplies about 20% of the total meat needs of the nation. This
is grossly inadequate when compared with that in developed countries like
America where as at 1915,poultry enterprise was already existing in the yard of
many homes of the rural and small town families (U. S. Department of Commerce).
Research
has pointed out that in most part of Nigeria, poultry farms operate in a less
equipped poultry houses under the care of less competent poultry farmers that
are less concerned about the recent technologies that are relevant for the
improvement of their poultry management and increasing the yield of their
input. This is one of the major reasons why most developed countries in the
world produce and consume higher poultry products than Nigeria. In the United
States for instance, statistics has it that the estimate of egg consumption is
250 – 300 egg per head per annum, this is in contrast to Nigeria where the
estimated egg consumption is 20-25 eggs per head per annum (Oluyemi and Robert,
2000). Therefore, there is urgent need for training poultry farmers in Nigeria
as a whole and in Oshimili South Local government Area of delta State in
particular in order to make up for this discrepancy.
Training
in simple terms refers to the imparting of specific skills, ability and
knowledge through appropriate educational methodology to improve performance
and efficiency of the trainee. Training is any attempt to improve current or
future employee performance by increasing an employee’s ability to perform
through learning, usually by changing the employee’s attitude or increasing his
or her skills and knowledge. Training needs depends on lack or deficiency in
skills. The need for training and development is determined by employee’s
performance deficiency computed as follows
Training
need = standard performance - actual performance. (Human Resources
Management,2010).
Training
is basically classified into lectures and on-the-job training. Lecture is the
kind of training that takes place off-site i.e. in classrooms or lecture halls.
It is used because of its low cost and its capacity to reach many people at a
time. It is referred to as a one- way training device and it is sometimes
criticized as a training device. On-the-job training takes place at the place
of primary assignment. It is most time used as a supplement for the off-site
training since it is usually impossible to teach someone everything she needs
to know at a location off-site.
Since
training is so crucial in developing individual’s managerial ability, it may be
referred to as the basis of economic development. Going by the quote by Thomas
and portal, (1992) which says development is achieved through investing in
human capital and raising the productivity capacity of the society, also the
economist school of taught who viewed development primarily in terms of a
nation’s relative prosperity, it is therefore of great need that the poultry
farmers in Oshimili South Local Government Area of Delta State and those in
Nigeria as a whole be assessed to determine whether they need training in order
to increase their competence for better management of their farms.
1.2 Statement of Problem
A number of
challenges are associated with poultry production in Delta State and in Nigeria
as a whole among which is disease incidence; for example Newcastle disease is a
major constrain in the production of village chicken (Alexander, 1991 and
spradbrow, 1988). Many developing countries suffer high mortality in
unprotected flocks based on the fact that circulating strands of Newcastle
disease virus is capable of causing 100% mortality. According to (Eekeren et
al, 1990), insufficiency of clean fresh water can seriously retard the growth
of chicks, impair egg production and sometimes lead to the mortality of young
chicks. Other challenges include poorly equipped poultry houses, wrong way of
administering drugs, and poor management techniques which is most times as a
result of incompetence of the poultry farmers.
Giving training in
various aspect of poultry management on the recent discoveries, observations,
developments and techniques will go a long way in solving some of these
problems. This study is therefore designed to answer the following research
questions
·
What is the level of competence of poultry
farmers in Oshimili South Local Government Area of delta State?
·
What is the expected level of competence of
poultry farmers?
·
How do poultry farmers perceived their task?
·
What are the task areas in which poultry
farmers require further training in order to check persisting problems and
boost productivity
1.3
Objectives
of the study
The
broad objective of this study is to examine the needs of training poultry
farmers in Oshimili South Local Government Area of Delta State. The specific
objectives of the study are to
a. describe the social-economic characteristic of poultry
farmers
b. identify
the perceived level of competence of poultry farmers in accomplishing their
tasks
c. ascertain
poultry farmers perceived importance of their task
d. ascertain the task in which poultry famers
require further training.
1.4
Hypothesis
of the Study
This
hypothesis will be tested in this study
Ho1 there
is significant differences in gender perceived importance of various task
perform by poultry farmers
1.5
Significance
of the Study
The
need for this study is to identify certain challenges of the poultry industries
in Delta state, and to cause noticeable change in the poultry farming of this
age by training poultry farmers on improved system of poultry management and
exposing them to the importance attached to their various tasks and the tasks
in which they need further training as a way of increasing productivity.