Abstract
People in northern Uganda are currently rebuilding their lives after a lengthy period of conflict. To facilitate this, the Ugandan government and donors have promoted investment in pigs as an important strategy for generating income quickly and ensuring livelihood security. In this context, animal health issues are an acknowledged challenge, creating uncertainty for animal owners who risk losing both their animals and income. This paper draws on policy documents guiding the veterinary sector, interviews with faculty staff at Makerere University and with veterinarians and paraprofessionals in northern Uganda, and ethnographic fieldwork in smallholder communities. The aims of this study were to contribute to an understanding of the structure of veterinary support and its dominant development narratives in policy and veterinary education and of the way in which dominant discourses and practices affect smallholders' ability to treat sick animals. Particular attention was paid to the role of paraprofessionals, here referring to actors with varied levels of training who provide animal health services mainly in rural areas. The results suggest that veterinary researchers, field veterinarians and government officials in agricultural policy share a common discourse in which making smallholders more business-minded and commercializing smallholder production are important elements in reducing rural poverty in Uganda. This way of framing smallholder livestock production overlooks other important challenges faced by smallholders in their livestock production, as well as alternative views of agricultural development. The public veterinary sector is massively under-resourced; thus while inadequately trained paraprofessionals and insufficient veterinary support currently present a risks to animal health, paraprofessionals fulfill an important role for smallholders unable to access the public veterinary sector. The dominant discourse framing paraprofessionals as “quacks” tends to downplay how important they are to smallholders by mainly highlighting the negative outcomes for animal healthcare resulting from their lack of formalized training. The conclusions of this study are that both animal health and smallholders' livelihoods would benefit from closer collaboration between veterinarians and paraprofessionals and from a better understanding of smallholders' needs.
Highlights
AND BACKGROUNDThis study explored aspects of animal health challenges in a setting where animal production is a key feature in many people’s lives
Paraprofessionals and smallholders challenged this dominant discourse, but the analysis indicated that expressions challenging the dominant discourse were less coherent and did not form a strong united discourse coalition
A lack of qualified veterinarians in Uganda and smallholders’ inability to pay for them has led to paraprofessionals with varying levels of training being key providers of animal healthcare advice to smallholders in rural northern Uganda
Summary
AND BACKGROUNDThis study explored aspects of animal health challenges in a setting where animal production is a key feature in many people’s lives. The Ugandan government sees the shift from subsistence farming to commercial agriculture as a key strategy for reducing widespread poverty in the country [2]. In the general efforts to reduce poverty through the commercialization of agriculture, the Ugandan government and donors have focused on livestock as an opportunity for smallholders. Pigs especially have attracted interest due to their short generation interval, minimal space requirement and rapid multiplication rates [3, 4]1. Their potential as a route out of poverty is limited by, among other things, disease and health problems [5–8]. Veterinary services play a key role in the government’s efforts to reduce poverty through agricultural commercialization in general and pig production in particular
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