International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences |
ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 2 Number 7 (2013) pp. 240-248 |
Poultry waste management practices in selected poultry
operations around Gaborone, Botswana |
John Cassius Moreki* and Teto Keaikitse |
Department of Animal Science and Production, Botswana College of Agriculture,
Private Bag 0027, Gaborone, Botswana
*Corresponding author e-mail: jcmoreki@gmail.com |
A B S T R A C T |
This study investigated poultry waste management practices in poultry operations
around the City of Gaborone. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire
that was administered to 25 randomly selected commercial poultry farmers in
Kgatleng, Kweneng and South-East Districts. Data were also collected through
direct observation and by reviewing secondary sources of data. Data were analysed
using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), Version 19. Results
showed that 80% of the respondents disposed of manure and/litter by giving it
away to other farmers, 16% used it as a fertilizer on their own fields, whereas 4%
of the respondents disposed of manure/litter in the landfills/dumping sites. The
three methods of mortality disposal were landfills (52%), incineration (20%) and
burning (20%). With an estimated population of 908 200 chickens reared in the
research sites in a year it is estimated that 20 441 tonnes of manure was produced
in a year. The challenges in disposing of poultry waste were lack of transport, lack
of farmers knowledge of poultry waste management and insufficient space to
enable construction of waste disposal pits on farms. This study showed that
farmers knowledge of poultry waste management was inadequate. |
Keywords |
Dumping site;
Gaborone;
landfill;
litter;
manure;
mortality. |