




































 
 

Effectiveness of the use of Indigenous Knowledge in 

Livestock Production in Oriire Local Government Area of 

Oyo State 

 

Ayoade, A. R., Adewole, W. A.,Adetunbi, S. I., and  Dairo, P. O. 
Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development,                                                          

LadokeAkintola University of Technology,                                                                                     
P. M. B 4000, Ogbomoso, Oyo-State, Nigeria  

ABSTRACT 

This study, focused effectiveness of the use of indigenous knowledge 

in livestock production in Oriire Local Government Area ofOyo State.A multistage 

sampling technique was employed for the study. Data were collected with the aid 

of well-structured interview schedule while frequency, percentage, mean and 

weighted mean score were used to present results. Chi square test was used in 

testing the hypothesis of the study. The results of the findings revealed that 

majority (71.1%) of the respondents were married, with the mean age of 

41.66years. Observing good hygiene practices was ranked first with the WMS of 

2.61 while the use of herbs was ranked second with the WMS of 2.34 as the 

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indigenous method utilized by the respondent’s Indigenous knowledge products 

are cheap and in most cases cost free in monetary terms was the highest benefits 

of all (100%) the respondents. The results of Chi square test revealed a significant 

between age(r = 0.437**, p = 0.000), years spent in school (r =0.273**, p= 0.009) 

and the level of use of indigenous knowledge system. The study concludes that 

the most effective indigenous knowledge method was observation good hygienic 

practices. Therefore, it wasrecommended that relevant agencies of government 

like NAFDAC should encouraged provision of good hygienic environment among 

participants of indigenous knowledge. 

Keywords-Indigenous, diagnosis, feeds and livestock. 

I INTRODUCTION 

The agricultural sector plays an important role in Nigeria’s economy, 

contributing 37 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employing 

65% of the adult labour force. Over 90% of Nigeria’s agricultural output is by 

small-scale (less than 5 ha) resource-poor farmers who have, for centuries, 

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sustained the national food supply through a considerable wealth of IK about 

how to harness both natural and socio-economic factors of production 

(Chimaraokeet al., 2003). Despite the introduction of agro-chemicals, many 

farmers continued to rely on indigenous farm practices, either on their own or 

in combination with modern technologies. Small-scale, resource-poor farmers 

have good reasons for sticking to their local knowledge and farming practices 

attendant thereto, and that modern technologies can only be successful and 

sustainable if the interplay of local knowledge of cultural, social and ecological 

systems are taken into consideration. In so stating, it is suggested that, given 

the pervasive scenario of rapid population growth (2-3% per annum) and the 

attendant domestic food demand deficits, there is the emergent need to 

balance the sustaining IK of the production system with modern technology, 

through a systematic hybridization strategy. 

Livestock contribute enormously to food security and livelihoods at the 

global, national and community levels. Globally, livestock provide a source of 

livelihood for 800 million poor people and account for 30% of agricultural GDP 

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in developing countries (Gupta, 1990). In Nigeria, the livestock sector which is 

dominated by small ruminants contributes about 7% of agricultural Gross 

Domestic Product (GDP) and serves a major source of income and employment 

for the growing populations, especially rural people. Nearly 95% of livestock 

keepers in Nigeria are rural small-scale farmers who provide the bulk of the 

national output (Federal Ministry of Agriculture (Goswamiet al., 2006). 

The indigenous knowledge method commonly used to control diseases 

includes constant and low costs but at most times are curative. The emphasis 

throughout the world is prevention as found in modern medical care such as 

the use of vaccines, although where these are available, they are supplied 

irregularly, sometimes in insufficient quantities and very expensive. Therefore 

it becomes difficult for the peasant farmer to get it. 

The objectives are to;  

 Examine the socio-economic characteristics of livestock farmers in the 

study area. 

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 Ascertainthe effectiveness  of the indigenous knowledge’s being 

employed by the respondents in the study area. 

 Evaluate factors influencing theeffectiveness  of the indigenous 

knowledge’s being employed by the respondents in thestudy area. 

Hypothesis of the study: 

H01: There is no significant relationship between the socioeconomic 

characteristics of the respondents and the effectiveness of the use of 

indigenous knowledge in livestock production. 

II. METHODOLOGY 

The study was conducted in Oriire local Government Area of Oyo 

State. It is located around latitude 8030’N of the equator and longitude 3054’S 

of the Greenwich meridian.  It as population of about 150, 628  (NPC, 2006).  

The headquarters are in the town of Ikoyi. The land area is 2,116 km2.The 

mean temperature is 26.20C,lowest temperature of 24.300C while highest 

temperature is 28.700C.

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Oriire Local Government Area is in derived savanna climatic zone 

where agricultural products such as yam, melon, cashew, mango, shea-butter, 

cocoa, kola nut, palm-oil etc can be found. Most of the inhabitants engaged in 

farming as their major occupation while some are hunters, traders, fish 

farmers, etc. (Jeliliet al., 2015). It is inhabited by over 100 communities such 

as Tewure, Iluju, Apiko, Saamo, Igbori, Odun-Ifa and Olokoto among many 

others. The Local Government Area has 10 wards. 

 The  population of the study consists of all livestock farmers at Oriire Local 

Government of Oyo State of Nigeria.A multistage sampling technique was employed 

for the study. The first stage involved the purposive selection of Ogbomoso 

agricultural zone out of the four agricultural zonesin Oyo State and those zones are; 

Ibadan/Ibarapa, Ogbomoso,  Oyo, and Saki.The second stage involved selection of 

Oriire Local Government Area. The third stage involved purposive selection of two 

blocks from the LGA rural areas. The fourth stage involved snow ballsampling of 

livestock farmers: and a total of 90 livestock farmers were sampled. 

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 The tools and procedure that were employed elucidated the objectives of the 

study: this includes the following.  

Descriptive statistics:  

 They are the mean, percentages and frequency distribution. These were used as 

tools to describe the socioeconomic characteristics of respondents and effectiveness  

of the indigenous knowledge’s being employed by the respondents. 

Chi square test: 

Chi square test was used to evaluate the factors influencing the effectiveness  of the 

indigenous knowledge’s being employed by the respondents in the study area and  

the test of hypothesis. 

III.  RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 

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 The distribution of the respondents by age revealed that 21.1% of the 

respondents were less than equal to 30 years of age, 22.2% were between 31 

and 40years of age,33.33% were between 41 and 50years of age, 17.77% were 

between 51 and 60 years of age while 5.6% of the respondents were above 

60years of age. The mean age of the respondents was 41.66years this means 

that the respondents are of average age, still strong and agile for agricultural 

production and will be expected to know and have access to various 

indigenous knowledge system 

 The distribution of the respondents by sex revealed that 60% of the 

respondents were male while 40% were female. The result shows that there 

were more male among the respondents than female. 

 The distribution of the respondents by religion revealed that 54.4% of 

the respondents were Christians while 45% of the respondents were Muslims. 

The result indicates that both Islamic and Christian religion were being 

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practiced by the respondents though the Christians were a little more than 

the Muslims. 

 The distribution of the respondents by marital status revealed that 

71.1% of the respondents were married while 28.9% of the respondents were 

single. This results shows that most of the respondents were married. Being 

married shows that there will be availability of family labour supply to the 

respondents for their farming activities. 

 The distribution of the respondents by level of education revealed that 

20% of the respondents had non-formal education,10% completed primary 

school,17.7% did not complete primary school,22.2% completed secondary 

school,12.2%did not complete primary school while 20% of the respondents 

had tertiary education. 

 The distribution of the respondents by household size revealed that 

10% of the respondents had household size of between 1 and 3 members,40% 

had between 4 and 6 members, 40% had between 7 and 9 members while 

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10% of the respondents had household above 10. The mean household size 

was 6 members. This shows a relatively large family size which will be a source 

of family labour to the respondents. 

Table 1: Socioeconomic Characteristics of the Respondents 

Variable Frequency Percentage Mean 

Age    

<=30 19 21.10  

31-40 20 22.22  

41-50 30 33.33 41.66 

51-60 16 17.77  

Above 60 5 5.6  

Sex    

Male 54 60  

Female 36 40  

Religion    

Christian 49 54.4  

Muslim 41 45.6  

Marital Status    

Married 64 71.1  

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Single 26 28.9  

Level of Education    

No formal education 18 20.00  

Primary education completed 9 10.00  

Primary education uncompleted 16 17.70  

Secondary education completed 20 22.20  

Secondary education uncompleted 11 12.20  

Tertiary education 18 20  

Years spent in School    

0 18 20.00  

1-5 9 10.00  

6-10 15 16.6 9.67 

11-15 38 42.2  

16-20 10 11.2  

Household Size 9 10  

1-3 9 10 6.00 

4-6 36 40  

7-9 36 40  

Above 10 9 10  

Source: Field Survey, 2018 

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Effectiveness of various Indigenous Knowledge Methods of controlling 

Livestock Diseases 

 The distribution of the respondents by the effectiveness of indigenous 

knowledge system of controlling livestock diseases that was measured on 3- 

point scale of very effective, effective and not effective, while weighted mean 

score (WMS)was used in ranking of the items. Observing good hygiene 

practices was ranked first with the WMS of 2.61, the use of herbs was ranked 

second with the WMS of 2.34, movement away from the infested area ranked 

third with the WMS of 2.25, self diagnosis, boundering and hand removal of 

tick, lices and worms had a joint ranking of fourth with WMS of 1.98. 

Furthermore, burning of infested pasture and herd sharing had a joint ranking 

of seventh with the WMS of 1.71, the use of holy books and left over egg 

mixed with feeds ranked 9th with the WMS of 1.53. the use of cow urine to 

wash affected part ranked thirteen with WMS of 1.26 while the use of honey 

mixed with monkey droppings had the least ranking of fourteen with WMS OF 

1.24. 

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Table 2: Effectiveness of Various Indigenous Knowledge Methods of 

Controlling Livestock Diseases 

Indigenous Knowledge 

Method 

Very 

Effective  

Effective Not 

Effective 

WMS Rank 

Observing good 

hygienic practices 

81(90) 9(10) - 2.61 1st 

The use of Herbs 54(60) 36(40) - 2.34 2nd 

Movement away from 

the infested area 

63(70) 18(20) 9(10) 2.25 3rd 

Self-Diagnosis 45(50) 18(20) 27(30) 1.98 4th 

Bush Burning of 

infested pasture 

- 81(90) 9(10) 1.71 7th 

Herd Sharing 27(30) 27(30) 36(40) 1.71 7th 

Boundering 27(30) 54(60) 9(10) 1.98 4th 

Hand Removal of ticks, 

lice and worms 

36(40) 36(40) 18(20) 1.98 4th 

Incantation - 40(44.4) 50(55.6) 1.3 11th 

Isolating infected 

animals 

9(10) 36(40) 45(50) 1.4 11th 

Use of Holy books 9(10) 45(50) 36(40) 1.53 9th 

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Left over egg (un-

hatch egg), mix with 

feeds  
 

18(20) 27(30) 45(50) 1.53 9th 

Cow urine use to wash 

affected parts  

- 36(40) 54(60) 1.26 13th 

Honey mix with monkey 

droppings apply to 

parts  

9(10) 18(20) 63(70) 1.24 14th 

Source: Field Survey, 2018 

Factors influencing the effectiveness  of the indigenous knowledge’s being 

employed by the respondents 

The results of Chi square analysis showing the relationship between 

some selected socioeconomic characteristics and the level of use of 

indigenous knowledge methods revealed a significant relationship between 

Sex (Chi value = 42.00, p = 0.000), marital status (Chi value = 56.27, p= 0.000), 

educational status (Chi value = 75.20, p = 0.000) and membership of social 

organization (Chi value = 86.97, p = 0.000). The results revealed that sex, 

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marital status, educational status and membership of social organization 

significantly influenced the level of use of indigenous knowledge system. 

The null hypothesis there is no significant relationship between the 

socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents and the effectiveness of the 

use of indigenous knowledge in livestock production. Since, sex, marital 

status, educational status  and membership of social organization were 

significant at 1 percentage level, the null hypothesis that there is no significant 

relationship between the socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents 

and the effectiveness of the use of indigenous knowledge in livestock 

production was rejected. 

 

Table 3: Factors influencing the effectiveness  of the indigenous knowledge’s 

being employed by the respondents 

Variable Chi–value P – value Remarks 

Sex 42.00 0.000 Significant 

Religion 4.113 0.129 Not Significant 

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Marital status 56.27 0.000 Significant 

Educational status 75.20 0.000 Significant 

Membership of social 

Organization 

86.97 0.000 Significant 

Source: Field Survey, 2018 

IV. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 

The study concludes that the most effective indigenous knowledge 

method was observation good hygienic practices. Also, educational status and 

membership of social organization significantly increased the level of use of 

indigenous knowledge system. 

Therefore, it was recommended that relevant agencies of government 

like NAFDAC (National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and 

Control)should ensure that provision of good hygienic environment should be 

practiced among  participants of indigenous knowledge.Educated  individuals 

should be encouraged to participate in  good indigenous knowledge methods. 

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REFERENCES 

Chimaraoke, O.I., Ugai, G.A., Ukwayi, J.K., 2003. Indigenous knowledge and 

communal conflict resolution: evidence from Nigeria. INDILINGA, African Journal of 

Indigenous Knowledge Systems, 2 (2). 

Goswami, B., Mondal. S. and Dana, S.S. (2006). Indigenous Technical Knowledge in 

fishfarming. Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge. Vol. 5(1) 1-166. 

Gupta, A.K. 1990. Documenting indigenous farmer’s practices.ILIEANews letter, 6 

(2) (1990), 29-30. 

JeliliM. O., Saliu, I. and Abiola, F. (2013): Charcoal Production in Oriire Local 

Government Area, Oyo State, Nigeria: Environmental and Socio-Economic 

Questions. Civil andEnvironmental Research, 7(12): 21-28. 

National Population Commission, Nigeria (2006).Census Report. 

 

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