Management of waste by-products in medium-scale commercial poultry facilities in peri-urban Ibadan, Nigeria

Due to increasing human population in and around the city, it is important to pay attention to issues related to the environment and human health, especially poultry waste management towards environmental sustainability in peri-urban areas. The three waste by-products of primary concern in poultry production are the litter, the manure and dead birds common to all operations. With the aid of a pre-tested and validated questionnaire, data were obtained from forty poultry farmers whose medium-scale commercial facilities were located in peri-urban Ibadan, Nigeria and were selected through a multistage sampling technique. Eighty percent of the farmers regarded poultry waste by-products as useful and valuable resource while twenty percent regarded the wastes as nuisance that had to be disposed of. The predominant methods of poultry waste by-product disposal were burying of carcasses and litter, burning of carcasses, direct application of litter on crop farms and feed source for other livestock such as swine and fish. None of the farmers composted the wastes and none used them for bio-energy production. There was positive and significant correlation between farm operators’ training and distance of farm to natural surface water (r=0.621*, p=0.031). There is need for impact assessment studies on the effects of poultry facilities on the environment with particular reference to underground and surface waters.