Level of Utilisation of Veterinary Service by Livestock farmers in Western Agricultural Zone of Nasarawa State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study assessed the level of utilisation of veterinary services by small scale livestock farmers in the western agricultural zone of Nasarawa state. Two LGAs (Karu and Keffi LGAs) were purposively selected from the zone for the study. A total of 120 respondents were selected through a multi-stage random sampling procedure. Data were collected through the use of a structured interview schedule. Data were analyzed using both descriptive statistics and a multiple regression model. The results show that a majority (75.2%) of the respondents were male with a mean age of 35years and an average of 10 years of farming experience. Half (50%) of them had tertiary education, indicating enhanced capacity to access and use veterinary services. Veterinary services accessed by the respondents were treatment of sick animals (93.3%), vaccination (93.3%), castration (65.0%), sales of drugs and vaccines (58.1%). Veterinary services such as: treatment of sick animals (x = 3.3) and vaccination (x = 3.2) recorded high level of use. The regression analysis showed that gender (t= 0.417), level of education (t=0.603), number of extension visits (t=0.607) and membership of social organisations (t= 0.670) had significant effect at 1% on the level of use of veterinary services by the respondents. Lack of money to acquire vaccines and drugs (x = 2.3), high cost of veterinary services (x =2.3) and far distance to veterinary centres (x =2.0) were the major constraints to use of veterinary services. It was recommended that extension agents should encourage the farmers to join cooperative groups to enhance easy access to credit to procure veterinary inputs.