EEFECTS OF KNOWLEDGE OF HAND WASHING, SOURCES OF WATER AND ENVIROMENTAL HYGIENE OF FARMING HOUSEHOLDS ON SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE IN NORTH-CENTRAL NIGERIA

Abstract

The study assess the knowledge of hand washing, sources of water and environmental hygiene practices of farming households in North-Central Nigeria. Multi- stage simple random sampling technique was used to select 256 farming households in the study area. Interview schedule was used to elicit data from the respondents. The responses were analyzed using frequency counts and mean score. The result of the study shows that 38% of the respondents are in the age range of 31 – 40 years with a mean of 36.7 years, they had low level of education and the mean number of number of visits of health service workers to farming households is 3 times/per annum. The results revealed that majority (73.80%) of the respondents are aware of the need to always wash hands after using the toilet but the knowledge on the use soap to wash hand before eating ( 36.30%), preparing food/cooking (20.30%), changing baby’s wear (24.20%), after defecating (19.10% ) and before feeding children (18.40%) is low in the study area. Majority of the respondents go their water for household purposes from unprotected sources such as dug well (57%) and bore holes (52%) and the majority (84%) treat their water by allowing it to stand and settle before drinking or before using it for other household purposes which is inadequate and may endanger the farming households to the vulnerability of food and water borne diseases. The use of bush and pit latrine are the major means of defecation in the households and dumping of household waste in a nearby bush is the system of waste disposal always adopted by majority (63.70%) of the households. Health extension workers and the local authorities should establish joint participatory committees to sensitize, motivate and organize food safety promotion programmes on the need to enforce some crucial food safety practices especially hand washing with soap/ash, on the danger of open defecation and poor system of waste disposal