Gastrointestinal helminths, the parasitic worms in question, include nematodes or roundworms, cestodes or tapeworms, and trematodes or flukes. Of these, nematodes are by far the most significant for poultry, both in the number of pathogenic species involved and in the economic damage they inflict. Birds acquire these parasites through two main routes: directly, by ingesting infective eggs or larvae from contaminated feed, water, or soil, or indirectly, by eating invertebrate intermediate hosts such as earthworms and snails that carry the parasite stages. Once established in the digestive tract, the worms interfere with digestion and nutrient metabolism, degrading feed efficiency and overall performance.

The clinical and economic consequences are far from trivial. In broilers, helminth infection reduces weight gain and can cause outright weight loss; in layers, it depresses egg production; and in severe cases it kills birds outright. The researchers note that helminthosis is also associated with anemia, catarrh, diarrhea, intestinal obstruction, loss of appetite, paralysis, poor feathering, and general weakness. Because poultry farming is regarded as the most efficient and economical means of meeting the rising global demand for animal protein, thanks to low start-up costs, readily available feed, fast bird maturity, and universal acceptance of eggs and meat, any parasite that undermines productivity strikes at the heart of food security.

Nigeria’s poultry sector is enormous. The national flock is estimated at roughly 160 million birds, of which about 72.4 million are chickens, and the industry has matured into a commercial enterprise involving thousands of birds per farm. It provides employment, income, and animal protein for urban and rural populations alike, along with manure for crop production. Against that backdrop, the Kwara State survey set out to apply a well-established tool from behavioral science: the knowledge, attitudes, and practices, or KAP, framework. By measuring what farmers know, what they think, and what they actually do, KAP studies identify knowledge gaps, misconceptions, and the barriers that shape behavior, giving animal health authorities the evidence needed to design effective control programs.

The study ran for eight months, from January to August 2024, in the seven Local Government Areas with the highest concentrations of poultry and poultry farms: Asa, Ifelodun, Ilorin East, Ilorin South, Ilorin West, Moro, and Offa. Kwara State lies in the forest-savanna belt of north-central Nigeria, covering 35,705 square kilometers, with mean annual temperatures between 22.1 and 33.3 degrees Celsius and average annual rainfall of 112.8 to 146.9 centimeters. The researchers recruited farmers during the monthly meetings of the Kwara State chapter of the Poultry Association of Nigeria, selecting participants randomly and enrolling only those who gave verbal consent and could provide information about their operations.

The methodological machinery behind the survey was rigorous. The minimum sample size of 141 was calculated using standard veterinary epidemiological formulas based on an expected prevalence of 10.2 percent and a precision of plus or minus 5 percent at a 95 percent confidence interval; 144 farmers ultimately participated. A semi-structured questionnaire, administered through an open data kit tool, contained nine questions on farm characteristics and eighteen questions spanning knowledge, attitudes, and practices. Responses were scored on a scheme in which fully correct answers earned two points, partially correct answers one point, and incorrect answers zero, with results categorized using Bloom’s cutoff points: below 60 percent was low knowledge, negative attitude, or poor practice; 60 to 80 percent was moderate, neutral, or fair; and 80 to 100 percent was high, positive, or good. The instrument’s internal consistency was validated with Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of 0.71 for knowledge, 0.80 for attitude, and 0.73 for practice.

The headline result was stark. Of the 144 respondents, 137, or 95.14 percent, had low knowledge of poultry helminth infections, while only three farmers showed moderate knowledge and four showed high knowledge. Even more alarming, 131 farmers, or 90.97 percent, had never heard of anthelmintic resistance, the evolutionary process by which parasites survive the drugs designed to kill them, and a nearly identical proportion, 91.67 percent, did not know how resistance could be prevented. Digging deeper, 65.97 percent of farmers had no knowledge of which worms infect poultry at all, 56.25 percent did not know what causes helminth infections, 61.11 percent did not know how the parasites are transmitted, and 55.56 percent could not recognize the clinical signs of infection in their birds.

Attitudes were scarcely more encouraging. A majority of farmers, 79 of 144 or 54.86 percent, held a negative attitude toward helminth infections, with 40.28 percent neutral and a mere 4.86 percent positive. About half of the respondents did not consider helminthosis an economically important disease, and 95.14 percent believed they had never experienced an outbreak in their flocks, a perception the researchers suggest reflects the disease’s insidious, subclinical nature rather than its absence. Statistical analysis revealed telling patterns: farmers raising birds on deep litter had significantly better knowledge than cage farmers, plausibly because helminths thrive in litter systems where birds continuously contact eggs and larvae, and farming experience was significantly associated with attitude scores. Crucially, Spearman’s rank correlation showed that knowledge, attitude, and practice moved together, with a strong positive correlation between knowledge and attitude and moderate correlations linking each to practice, all statistically significant.

Practice data exposed a dangerous paradox. More than half of the farmers, 56.25 percent, had never used an anthelmintic on their farms. Among the 63 who had, albendazole dominated, used by 36.51 percent, followed by piperazine at 33.33 percent and ivermectin at 17.46 percent, a concentration the researchers attribute to albendazole’s availability and affordability in Nigeria. Nearly all medicating farmers, 92.06 percent, administered drugs through drinking water, and most dosed only occasionally rather than on a regular schedule. Flock size and management system were both significantly associated with practice scores. The researchers caution that the combination of heavy reliance on a single drug class, irregular dosing, and near-total ignorance of resistance mechanisms creates ideal conditions for resistance to emerge, a threat already documented in livestock parasites worldwide and one that could render current treatments ineffective.

The authors are candid about the study’s limitations: as a cross-sectional survey, it cannot establish causation, self-reported answers may carry social desirability bias, and the findings may not generalize across Nigeria’s diverse regions. Yet the baseline data they provide is precisely what policymakers and veterinary officials need. The message from Kwara State is clear: helminth infections are a neglected, economically significant disease that farmers neither understand nor manage well, and closing that gap through targeted training on parasite biology, transmission, clinical recognition, and, above all, the stewardship of anthelmintic drugs, could pay dividends for one of Nigeria’s most vital food industries.

Subject of Research: Knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding helminth infections among poultry farmers in Kwara State, Nigeria

Article Title: Assessment of the knowledge, attitudes, and practices relating to helminth infections among poultry farmers in Kwara State, Nigeria

Article References: Ola-Fadunsin, S. D., Abdullateef, M. A., & Ola-Fadunsin, O. J. (2025). Assessment of the knowledge, attitudes, and practices relating to helminth infections among poultry farmers in Kwara State, Nigeria. BMC Agriculture, 1(1), Article 7. https://doi.org/10.1186/s44399-025-00007-9

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s44399-025-00007-9

Keywords: poultry farming, helminth infections, Nigeria, anthelmintic resistance, KAP survey, parasitology, veterinary epidemiology, Kwara State, food security, livestock health, nematodes, farmer education