Knowledge, Attitude and At-risk Behaviour of Livestock Farmers towards Global Warming in Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

The negative consequences of global warming have debilitating effects on human and environment. 
Due to some unfavourable practices that are associated with livestock productions, the world is 
experiencing worsening air quality, rising temperatures and increased frequency of extreme 
weather events. Despite its inimical health consequences on human and environment, the preceding 
studies focused mainly on knowledge, attitude and practices of global warming, with little attention 
on behaviours that can increase the risk of experiencing global warming, particularly among 
livestock farmers. Hence, this study investigated knowledge, attitude and at-risk behaviour towards 
global warming among livestock farmers inOyo State, Nigeria. A cross-sectional research design 
was employed in this study, while livestock farmers were the population. The disproportionate 
stratified and simple random sampling techniques were used to select a total of one hundred (100) 
respondents. A self-developed questionnaire was used for data collection. The descriptive and 
inferential statistics of Pearson Product Moment Correlation were used for data analysis. The 
results revealed that the level of knowledge of global warming was high (weighted mean=1.79) 
among livestock farmers in Oyo State, attitude (weighted mean=2.65) was positive; while at-risk 
behaviour (weighted mean=1.64) were negative. Moreover, there was a significant positive 
relationship between knowledge and attitude towards global warming (r=0.897) among the 
livestock farmers; while knowledge had negative relationship with at-risk behaviour (r=-0.800) 
among the respondents. It was established that, the level of knowledge of global warming was high 
among livestock farmers in Oyo State; attitude was positive; while their at-risk behaviour was 
negative. Knowledge had a significant positive relationship with attitude, but had a negative 
relationship with at-risk behaviour of the farmers. The Oyo State Ministry of Environment should 
ensure that periodic health education is organised for livestock farmers to improve their attitude 
and behaviour that could contribute to global warming.