Digital Extension and Social Learning for Livestock Health: Effect of WhatsApp Groups on Disease Reporting and Vaccination Uptake Among Smallholder Pig and Poultry Farmers in Ikere LGA, Ekiti State, Nigeria

Abstract

Digital extension has become a practical low-cost pathway for improving livestock health through quick information sharing and peer learning among smallholder farmers. This study assessed the association between WhatsApp group participation, disease reporting and vaccination uptake among pig and poultry farmers in Ikere Local Government Area of Ekiti State, Nigeria. A multistage sampling procedure was used to select 147 farmers from five wards, and primary data were collected between January and March 2025 using a structured questionnaire that was face-validated by two agricultural extension experts and pre-tested among 20 farmers outside the study area, yielding Cronbach's alpha coefficients of 0.81 for digital literacy, 0.78 for peer influence and 0.84 for extension facilitation. Vaccination uptake, the dependent variable, was operationalized as a binary outcome where farmers who had vaccinated their entire flock or herd against Newcastle Disease for poultry and routine preventive vaccines for pigs within the last six months in line with veterinary recommendation were coded 1 and 0 otherwise. Key explanatory variables including digital literacy, peer influence and extension facilitation were measured as composite scores using 5-point Likert items. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression with multicollinearity and model fit diagnostics. Results showed that 52.4% of farmers belonged to livestock WhatsApp groups. Descriptively, WhatsApp members recorded a lower mean disease reporting time of 8.4 hours compared to 23.5 hours for non-members, a higher observed vaccination rate of 68.8% compared to 24.3%, and a lower reported mortality rate of 11.2% compared to 28.9%, but these differences are presented strictly as descriptive associations and should not be interpreted as causal effects due to the cross-sectional design. The logistic regression model was statistically significant with Omnibus Chi-square = 58.41, p < 0.001, Hosmer and Lemeshow test p = 0.412 indicating good fit, and Nagelkerke R² = 0.502, explaining 50.2% of variation in vaccination uptake, with all Variance Inflation Factors below 1.85. Adjusted odds ratios showed that WhatsApp group membership (B = 1.029, OR = 2.798, p < 0.001), extension facilitation (B = 0.984, OR = 2.675, p < 0.001), digital literacy (B = 0.821, OR = 2.273, p = 0.001), peer influence (B = 0.674, OR = 1.962, p = 0.005) and years of formal education (B = 0.102, OR = 1.107, p = 0.020) were significantly associated with higher odds of vaccination uptake. The study concludes that WhatsApp-based digital extension is associated with improved vaccination behaviour and better descriptive livestock health indicators, and recommends training extension agents as moderators, subsidizing data, and integrating WhatsApp platforms with veterinary services.