Assessment of farmers’ knowledge profile on African swine fever in Nyero sub-county, Kumi district.

Abstract

African Swine Fever (ASF) is one of the most contagious and deadly disease that affects domestic pigs. It is a devastating haemorrhagic fever of pigs that causes up to 100% mortality (Penrith et al, 2004). A study was carried to assess farmers' knowledge on African swine fever in Nyero sub-county Kumi district in July 2017 with the objective of the determining farmer's level of knowledge on the different way of African swine fever transmission and biosecurity measures. A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out to collect both quantitative and qualitative data from 80 randomly sampled pig farmers using a structured questionnaire. Data was analyzed using excel spread sheet while knowledge level was assessed by scoring and grading. The results showed that 10%,50% and 22% of the farmers had excellent, good and poor knowledge on transmission respectively while 13%,38%, and 46% of farmers had excellent good and Poor knowledge on biosecurity respectively. The study showed that the participants had an understanding of specific spread mechanisms and possible preventive measures, Training by extension workers should be organized for swine keepers with biosecurity practices against African swine fever and mechanism of its transmission being part of their livestock packages.