Abstract

E. B. Onoerigho1 *, E. K. Ogondi2 , B. K. Ernest3 and J. P. I. Clark

The study examined the impact of entrepreneurship training on rural poultry farmers’ adoption of improved management practices in Enugu State, Nigeria. Data were collected from two hundreds randomly selected rural poultry farmers that were trained on entrepreneurship by use of questionnaire. Data were analyzed with both descriptive and inferential statistics. Results showed that before the training, majority (70%) of the rural poultry farmers were unaware of some of the improved management practices like record-keeping, consulting veterinary doctors, vaccination, debeaking, etc. However, after the training, all the farmers (100%) were aware of the management practices and majority (85%) of poultry farmers adopted these practices. Educational level (t=3.3501), farming experience (t=2.9511), income level (t=2.6188) as well as farm size (t=2.8183) were found highly significant and positively related to farmers adoption of the improved poultry management practices. Constraints identified were high cost of inputs (80%), low capital outlay (95%), difficulty in obtaining loan (80%) and poor extension (75%) visits. Government should organize more entrepreneurial training and provide soft loan to farmers as to facilitate adoption of the improved management practices thereby improving poultry meat supply and ensuring food security.