Disease Prevalence among Cattle and Knowledge of Farmers Regarding Health Management and Livestock Technology in Developing Countries: Evidence from Bangladesh

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the prevalence of cattle disease and the knowledge of farmers regarding health management and livestock technology in Bangladesh as a paradigm of developing countries. Data were collected via face-to-face interviews between December 2020 and June 2021 from 301 randomly selected farmers from three districts in Bangladesh. Foot and Mouth (FMD) was the predominant disease in the study cattle. About 45% of cattle in Dhaka and 40% of cattle in Rajshahi were infected with FMD while Diarrhea (33%) and bloat (33%) were most prevalent in cattle from Sirajganj. Although the majority of respondents practiced regular vaccination and deworming for cattle, they had significantly less knowledge of vaccination and deworming. Moreover, there is a significant difference in regular practice and knowledge of farmers about vaccination among our study areas (p<0.007). FMD vaccine use was significantly higher among farmers of Dhaka (p<0.016) while the use of Black quarter (p<0.003) and Hemorrhagic septicemia (p<0.001) vaccines were significantly higher among farmers of Rajshahi. Most of the respondents provided prophylactic care by themselves or with the help of quacks while dependent on quacks or registered veterinarians for treatment. Half of the farmers faced various problems in health care management including the high prevalence of diseases (60%). Fifty-two percent of subjects from Dhaka had received different training such as cattle rearing and animal health and 84% of them implemented received training. The results of this study demonstrated that more awareness and training are needed regarding healthcare management and technology adoption in developing countries like Bangladesh for obtaining sustainable livestock production.