Assessment of Livestock Loss Factors in the Western Serengeti, Tanzania

Abstract

Diseases have been documented to be responsible for high loss in livestock production in sub-Saharan Africa (Gifford-Gonzalez, 2000). Historically, diseases have been the factor delaying the introduction of cattle-based economies by as much as one thousand years after the first appearance of small livestock in both eastern and southern Africa (GiffordGonzalez, 2000). Diseases that frequently are fatal to livestock production (especially cattle) in sub-Saharan Africa include wildebeest-derived Malignant Catarrhal Fever (MCF), East Coast Fever (ECF), Foot and Mouth Diseases (FMD), worms (helminthes), Rift Valley Fever (RVF), rinderpest, anthrax as well as trypanosomiasis (Kock, 2003; Thomson et al., 2003). Livestock diseases have economical consequences on livestock husbandry at two levels; 1) at the national and local level, the diseases are responsible for direct loss due to mortality or indirectly through lowered production and/or the cost of treatment and prevention (Perry et al., 2002; Kock, 2003). 2) At a global level diseases may affect any opportunity for export of livestock and livestock products between regions or continents, jeopardizing the exchange of products for foreign currency (Kock, 2003; OIE, 2003).