ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS OF FISH AND POULTRY MIXED FARMING: EMERGING TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

It was observed that the environmental degradation from rearing fish and poultry farming is on the increase due to poor handling of waste from farm animals. This practice is common among the farmers with free care attitude and little or low level of technology despite that animal farmers are among jobs providers, economy builders for national growth and sustainable development. This paper investigated the “Economic and Environmental Benefits of Fish and Poultry Mixed Farming: Emerging Technological Innovation for Sustainable Development”. The purpose of this study was to examine the economic and environmental benefits of rearing fish and poultry farm. This study was carried out at selected poultry farms in Afijio Local Government Area of Oyo State. Forty (40) fish and poultry farmers were randomly selected for this study. Opinions of respondents were harvested on economic and environmental consequences of rearing fish and poultry from fish and poultry farmers in the study area. The study sought for answers to the research questions and tested hypotheses, while the instruments were validated by four experts in the School of Vocational and Technical Education Programmes, Emmanuel Alayande College of Education, Oyo. The reliability coefficient was determined using Cronbach Alpha method and the results yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.91.The researcher used frequency counts, mean and standard deviation to analyze the research questions. The t-test was used in testing the hypotheses at 0.05level of significance. The problems identified among others are air, water and land pollution caused by organic waste from poultry animals in the study area. It was observed from the findings of this study that rearing of fish and poultry are contributing immensely to the economic growth and with minimal adverse environmental effects (air, land and water pollution) in the communities of the study area. It was recommended that fish and poultry farmers should be encouraged to embrace rearing of fish and poultry since this practice largely contributes to economic growth and safety environment.