An assessment of awareness and practicing status regarding personal and animal hygiene among livestock farmers in semiurban areas of Barisal district, Bangladesh

Abstract

The knowledge gap of livestock farmers on proper farm hygiene practices is one of the major concerns in Bangladesh. Therefore, the study was performed to assess the awareness and practicing status regarding personal and animal hygiene among livestock farmers in selected semi-urban areas of Barisal district, Bangladesh. A total of 202 farmers were interviewed to collect data randomly from four distinct suburban villages of Barishal district. SPSS software (version 25) was used to code and analyze the raw data. The research revealed that 68.3% of the farmers used tube well for supplying water to the animals. On the other hand, all the farmers were found to use tube-well for family use. 58.4% of farmers never used disinfectants regularly on their farms. Additionally, 40.1% of participants never practiced a routine deworming schedule. Attending seminars was found to have effects on washing and feeding troughs (p<0.05) and the application of disinfectants on a regular basis (p<0.01). Since a large percentage of livestock keepers are not still aware of animal and personal hygiene, the government and other non-government organizations should adopt necessary steps to disseminate knowledge among livestock owners for their animal and personal hygiene in order to prevent various zoonotic and anthroponotic diseases.