ASSESSMENT OF KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE, AND PRACTICES (KAP) AMONG RURAL RESIDENTS BORDERING MAIRUA RESERVOIR AND ITS IMPLICATIONS ON FISH PARASITES AND WATER QUALITY IN FUNTUA, KATSINA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study investigated the knowledge attitude and practices, KAPs among rural residents bordering Mairua reservoir and its implications on fish parasites and water quality. Cross sectional questionnaire studies were carried out among 120 respondents inhabiting at Mairua communities between June and August 2024, using questionnaire. Simple random sampling was used to select study respondents. The collected data was entered into Microsoft excel and transferred to SPSS version20 for analysis. Descriptive statistics was used to analysed collected data. Of the total 120 survey respondents, (94.2%) of the respondents were males, while (5.8%) of the respondents were females. while more than half of the respondents were married (60.8). In term of level of education majority of the respondents having Quranic education only (31.7%) as the highest level education attained. More than half of the roles of the respondent’s in house hold revealed 64.2% respondents were father’s role in house hold. A greater proportion of the respondents 75 (62.5%) stated that the primary purpose of the Mairua reservoir is Drinking. Regarding types of manure/chemical used in the farmland, 60.0% of the respondents had used fertilizer in their farmland. 74.2% of the respondents known that fish parasites reduce fish growth, yield, aesthetic value, marketability and palatability. Almost half of the respondents (36.7%) can consume smoked/undercooked fish. Majority of the respondents 36.7% had buy fish from fish market regularly. 40.0% of the respondents had washed their clothes in/near the reservoir regularly. Almost half of the respondents (49.2%) had use chemical in their farmland regularly. These discoveries discovered knowledge, attitude and practice of the communal in the region to water quality management and fish parasites was not okay. Consequently, more development of water quality management methods will be vital.