DIAGNOSTIC SURVEY ON THE FARMER’S PERCEPTIONS ON THE UTILIZATION OF Parkia biglobosa (AFRICAN LOCUST BEAN) PULP AS FEED FOR ANIMALS

A study was conducted in some selected Local Government areas (LGAs) of Sokoto state to determine the farmer’s perception on the utilization of locust bean (Parkia biglobosa) pulp as feed for uda rams. Purposive sampling method was used to select three local government Areas with three villages each. Checklist was used to obtained data from ten respondents; from each village, making a total of 90 respondents. Data generated from the study were subjected to descriptive statistics (using frequency and percentile), and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Where significant difference exists, least significant different (LSD) was used to separate the means. Results obtained indicate that 100% of the respondents used locust bean pulp as feed for their animals. Fifty seven percent (57.8%) source their feed from the market while 42.2% sourced their feed from the farm and market. Ninety two percent of the respondents feed locust bean pulp in combination with other ingredients while only 7.8% feed it alone. About 64.4% of the respondents used the pulp for fattening, 1.1% used it for lactation while 34.4% used it for both fattening and lactation. All the respondents testify that the pulp is available year round. The study establish that the farmers are using locust bean pulp as part of their feed component in fattening their animals indicating its potential use as a feed supplement in the dry season when feed resources are not available.