Catfish Farmers Perception of Biosecurity Control Measures in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, Rivers State, Nigeria
Catfish Farmers Perception of Biosecurity Control Measures in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, Rivers State, Nigeria
Nwafili Sylvanus Anene, Ibinabo Jessica
ABSTRACT
The study was carried out to assess the perception and level of biosecurity measures adopted by catfish farmers in Obio/Akpor District of Rivers State with respect to hatchery operations. Data was collected from 49 catfish farmers by interview and structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze data obtained based on 4-point Likert scale. The result show that 81.63% of the catfish farmers had previous experience with eggs and fingerlings mortality. Majority of the respondents (81.63%) strongly agree that eggs mortality experienced in hatchery was due to fungal infection while 40.82% strongly agree that fungal infection was responsible fry/fingerlings losses in the hatchery. In general, the catfish farmers’ perception of causes of eggs and fry/fingerlings mortality were positive (strongly agree or agree) on 6 items and negative on 5 other items. The respondents held positive position on 10 biosecurity measures including restriction of access, disinfection of facilities, use of malachite green, sodium chloride, lime, chlorine, antibiotics and self-prepared saline water. The study also show that specialized equipment were not used in transportation and palm oil and some chemicals were added to transportation medium as anti-stress. There is the need to train catfish farmers’ on biosecurity measures and record keeping to further drive the growth of aquaculture production in Nigeria.
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