Smallholder Livestock Keepers Research Articles

Effects of Organic Fertilization on Growth Response of Brachiaria (Mulato II) in Lushoto, Tanzania

The smallholder livestock keepers in Tanzania, like any other country in sub-Saharan Africa, depend heavily on the natural pastures that lack quality and nutrients for livestock. Efforts to establish pasture with Bracharia grass in most parts of sub-Saharan Africa to supplement the deficiency are inevitable. This study aimed to investigate the effects of farmyard manure fertilisation on the performance of Brachiaria grass (Mullato II) at Ubiri Village, Lushoto District, Tanzania. The study used two treatments, i.e., the number of harvest and fertility improvement options, whereby Randomised Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications were used. Data was collected on plant tiller number per bunch, tiller height (m), biomass (tha-1) and leaf area indices per treatment in replications. R software version 3.5.0 was employed to analyse the gathered data sets. We compared the mean difference using the standard error of the mean. The result indicated that tiller height, number of tillers, biomass yield and leaf area index, of the hybrid Brachiaria grass had increased significantly (P<0.05) by 59, 48, 68%, and 76 %, respectively, in the second Harvest (i.e., 22 weeks). It was revealed further that manure fertilisation showed positive effects on the growth response of the grass. The study recommended that the integration of farmyard manure should be promoted in Tanzania and elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa. Moreover, a study should be conducted to investigate the effects of farmyard manure fertilisation on the nutritional value of Brachiaria grass in the area studied

Knowledge, attitudes and practices on bovine brucellosis among smallholder livestock keepers in Rungwe district, Tanzania

The objective of this study was to determine the knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of smallholder livestock farmers on brucellosis in Rungwe District, Tanzania. A cross-sectional study was conducted among cattle keepers practicing communal grazing in the district using a structured questionnaire. One hundred cattle keepers provided information about their KAP for brucellosis. Out of 100 participants, 12.8% did not know how the disease is transmitted in cattle, 20.5% stated mating, 37.2% stated placenta and 29.5% stated shared grazing area as the main transmission routes of the disease. Some respondents reported abortion (20.5%), bull infertility (25.6%) and weak calves (38.5%) as clinical signs in cattle, while 15.4% did not know the clinical signs. Drinking raw milk (23.1%), assisting delivery or handling placenta (16.7%), slaughtering infected animals (29.5%) and handling abortion cases (21.8%) were reported as means of brucellosis transmission to humans. A total of 11.5% of participants did not know the symptoms of brucellosis in humans, while 16.7%, 47.4% and 24.4% cited fever, headache and flu-like symptoms, respectively, as symptoms of brucellosis in humans. Most respondents had bad attitudes and practices toward brucellosis; for instance, 59.8% of respondents consumed unboiled milk. It is concluded that most livestock farmers in Rungwe district have poor knowledge of brucellosis, and their attitudes and practices put them and susceptible cattle on their farms at risk of contracting the disease. Education campaigns on the disease prevalence, socioeconomic effects, mode of transmission and control measures are recommended to control brucellosis in Rungwe District and the country at large.

Smallholder Livestock Keepers’ Breeding Choices and Its Implication on Poverty Reduction in Developing Countries: Empirical Evidence from Tanzania

Smallholder Livestock Keepers’ Breeding Choices and Its Implication on Poverty Reduction in Developing Countries: Empirical Evidence from Tanzania

Endemic foot and mouth disease: pastoral in-herd disease dynamics in sub-Saharan Africa

Foot and mouth disease (FMD) burden disproportionally affects Africa where it is considered endemic. Smallholder livestock keepers experience significant losses due to disease, but the dynamics and mechanisms underlying persistence at the herd-level and beyond remain poorly understood. We address this knowledge gap using stochastic, compartmental modelling to explore FMD virus (FMDV) persistence, outbreak dynamics and disease burden in individual cattle herds within an endemic setting. Our analysis suggests repeated introduction of virus from outside the herd is required for long-term viral persistence, irrespective of carrier presence. Risk of new disease exposures resulting in significant secondary outbreaks is reduced by the presence of immune individuals giving rise to a period of reduced risk, the predicted duration of which suggests that multiple strains of FMDV are responsible for observed yearly herd-level outbreaks. Our analysis suggests management of population turnover could potentially reduce disease burden and deliberate infection of cattle, practiced by local livestock keepers in parts of Africa, has little effect on the duration of the reduced risk period but increases disease burden. This work suggests that FMD control should be implemented beyond individual herds but, in the interim, herd management may be used to reduced FMD impact to livestock keepers.

Policy-induced price distortions along the small ruminant value chains in Ethiopia

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify sources and quantifying distortions to agricultural incentives to produce along the small ruminant value chains in Ethiopia.Design/methodology/approachNational and district level average nominal rate of protection (NRPs) were computed for a five-year period (2010–2015). The authors developed four scenarios based on combinations of the different data generation processes employed in relation to each of the key variables.FindingsThe NRPs at farm gate and retail market for both sheep and goats are negative indicating a strong deviation of producer and retailer prices from the comparable export prices over the five-year period. Policy induced distortions were separated from market inefficiencies through use of data on access costs throughout the value chain. These access costs are positive and significant in value. It is clear that market inefficiencies are also due to government policy to a certain extent.Research limitations/implicationsThis study focuses only on sheep and goat value chains and covers only five-year period. This certainly limits the extrapolability of the results.Originality/valueThis study presents the extent to which smallholder livestock keepers are discouraged through disincentives in a unique context. This is the first study done on small ruminant value chains in the developing world.

"Men Are in Front at Eating Time, but Not When It Comes to Rearing the Chicken": Unpacking the Gendered Benefits and Costs of Livestock Ownership in Kenya.

Livestock can promote resilience in low-income communities through a number of pathways. Livestock development programs seek to amplify these benefits but often fail to consider the costs to intended beneficiaries or the effect of prevailing gender norms. To explore perceptions of livestock ownership among female smallholder livestock keepers in Nyanza Region, Kenya, and unpack how the distribution of livestock benefits and investments varies by gender within households. We used multiple ethnographic techniques, including Photovoice, a photo-elicitation interview method, focus group discussions, and pile sorts, with female smallholder livestock owners (n = 18) participating in an ongoing cohort study. Transcripts were coded using a combination of a priori constructs and grounded theory. We found that livestock benefited households by providing financial security, food security, social benefits, and human time and labor savings. However, these benefits largely promoted long-term household resilience rather than immediate gains. Livestock ownership also had major costs to household time and labor, which were overwhelmingly borne by women and children. Despite this investment, women had limited livestock ownership rights, decision-making power, control over income, or access to meat. Our findings suggest that livestock ownership requires significant investments of household time and labor, which disproportionately burden women. Prevailing gender inequalities may therefore constrain the net benefit of livestock ownership for many women and their households in some contexts. Livestock development programs must assess both program benefits and costs at multiple levels to ensure that women's participation in livestock production leads to improved individual and household outcomes.

Cost analysis of options for management of African Animal Trypanosomiasis using interventions targeted at cattle in Tororo District; south-eastern Uganda

BackgroundTsetse-transmitted African trypanosomes cause both nagana (African animal Trypanosomiasis-AAT) and sleeping sickness (human African Trypanosomiasis - HAT) across Sub-Saharan Africa. Vector control and chemotherapy are the contemporary methods of tsetse and trypanosomiasis control in this region. In most African countries, including Uganda, veterinary services have been decentralised and privatised. As a result, livestock keepers meet the costs of most of these services. To be sustainable, AAT control programs need to tailor tsetse control to the inelastic budgets of resource-poor small scale farmers. To guide the process of tsetse and AAT control toolkit selection, that now, more than ever before, needs to optimise resources, the costs of different tsetse and trypanosomiasis control options need to be determined.MethodsA detailed costing of the restricted application protocol (RAP) for African trypanosomiasis control in Tororo District was undertaken between June 2012 and December 2013. A full cost calculation approach was used; including all overheads, delivery costs, depreciation and netting out transfer payments to calculate the economic (societal) cost of the intervention. Calculations were undertaken in Microsoft Excel™ without incorporating probabilistic elements.ResultsThe cost of delivering RAP to the project was US$ 6.89 per animal per year while that of 4 doses of a curative trypanocide per animal per year was US$ 5.69. However, effective tsetse control does not require the application of RAP to all animals. Protecting cattle from trypanosome infections by spraying 25 %, 50 % or 75 % of all cattle in a village costs US$ 1.72, 3.45 and 5.17 per animal per year respectively. Alternatively, a year of a single dose of curative or prophylactic trypanocide treatment plus 50 % RAP would cost US$ 4.87 and US$ 5.23 per animal per year. Pyrethroid insecticides and trypanocides cost 22.4 and 39.1 % of the cost of RAP and chemotherapy respectively.ConclusionsCost analyses of low cost tsetse control options should include full delivery costs since they constitute 77.6 % of all project costs. The relatively low cost of RAP for AAT control and its collateral impact on tick control make it an attractive option for livestock management by smallholder livestock keepers.

Towards a Framework for Enabling Operations of Livestock Information Systems in Poor Connectivity Areas

Livestock farming is one of the major agricultural activities in the country that is contributing towards achieving development goals of the national Growth and Reduction of Poverty (NSGRP). Smallholder livestock keepers depend on the information from the livestock field officers for sound decision making. Mobile application based solutions, which are currently widely proposed to facilitate the process, fail to perform in poor connectivity areas. This study proposes a machine learning based framework which will enhance the performance of mobile application based solutions in poor connectivity areas. The study used primary data, and secondary data. The primary data were collected through surveys, questionnaires, interviews, and direct observations. Secondary data were collected through books, articles, journals, and Internet searching. Open Data Kit (ODK) tool was used to collect responses from the respondents, and their geographical positions. We used Google earth to have smallholder livestock keepers’ distribution map. Results show that smallholder livestock keepers are geographically scattered and depend on the field livestock officers for exchange of information. Their means of communication are mainly face to face, and mobile phones. They do not use any Livestock Information System. The proposed framework will enable operations of Livestock Information System in poor connectivity area, where majority of smallholder livestock keepers live. This paper provides the requirements model necessary for designing and development of the machine learning-based application framework for enhancing performance of livestock mobile application systems, which will enable operations of livestock information systems in poor connectivity areas.

Designing a Machine Learning – Based Framework for Enhancing Performance of Livestock Mobile Application System

Smallholder livestock keepers live in rural areas where there is poor Internet connectivity. Many mobile based system designed do not function well in such areas. To address these concerns, an Android Mobile Application will be designed and installed on a smartphone. The application will have an easy to use Graphical User Interface (GUI) and request resources from the server through the Internet. This Intelligent Livestock Information System (ILIS) will be able to provide and predict feedback to the livestock keepers. This solution will also collect livestock data from livestock keepers through mobile phones. The data will then be sent to the database if connectivity is available or through synchronization if connectivity is poor. Livestock experts will be able to view data and respond to any query from livestock keepers. The system will also be able to learn and predict the responses using machine learning techniques. The goal of the ILIS is to provide livestock services to anyone at anytime, overcoming the constraints of place, time and character. Overall, this is a novel idea in the field of mobile livestock information systems. Along these, this paper presents the software, hardware and architecture design of the machine learning based livestock information system. Overall this solution embodies an artificial intelligence approach which combines hardware and software technologies. The design will leverage the Android ADK operating system and Android mobile devices or tablets. Our main contribution here is the intelligent livestock Information System, which is a novel idea in the field of mobile livestock information systems.

Sustaining intensification of smallholder livestock systems in the tropics

Smallholder livestock keepers represent almost 20% of the world population and steward most of the agricultural land in the tropics. Observed and expected increases in future demand for livestock products in developing countries provide unique opportunities for improving livelihoods and linked to that, improving stewardship of the environment. This cannot be a passive process and needs to be supported by enabling policies and pro-poor investments in institutional capacities and technologies. Sustaining intensification of smallholder livestock systems must take into account both social and environmental welfare and be targeted to sectors and areas of most probable positive social welfare returns and where natural resource conditions allow for intensification. Smallholders are competitive in ruminant systems, particularly dairy, because of the availability of family labour and the ability of ruminants to exploit lower quality available roughage. Smallholders compete well in local markets which are important in agriculturally-based or transforming developing countries. However, as production and marketing systems evolve, support to smallholders to provide efficient input services, links to output markets and risk mitigation measures will be important if they are to provide higher value products. Innovative public support and links to the private sector will be required for the poor to adapt and benefit as systems evolve. Likewise targeting is critical to choosing which systems with livestock can be intensified. Some intensive river basin systems have little scope for intensification. More extensive rain-fed systems, particularly in Africa, could intensify with enabling policies and appropriate investments. In more fragile environments, de-intensification is required to avoid irreversible damage to ecosystems. Attention to both social and environmental sustainability are critical to understanding trade-offs and incentives and to bridging important gaps in the perspectives on livestock production between rich and poor countries and peoples. Two specific examples in which important elements of sustainable intensification can be illustrated, smallholder dairy systems in East Africa and South Asia and small ruminant meat systems in Sub-Saharan Africa, are discussed.

The role of participatory problem analysis in performance improvement and sustainable management of rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems: A case study of Makanya village, Tanzania

Poor availability of water and pastures has been identified as the single most important factor constraining productivity of livestock in Tanzania. Many smallholder livestock keepers have responded to the problem of shortage of water by constructing charco dams (dug out ponds constructed in flat semi-arid areas to store surface runoff). However, most of these charco dams are performing poorly. A participatory problem analysis was carried out in Makanya village in Tanzania in 2001/2002 to identify causes of poor performance of privately owned charco dams and to design appropriate intervention measures for each charco dam. A total of twenty charco dams were investigated, with storage capacities ranging from 20 to 2000 m 3. The retention period of water in the investigated charco dams ranged from 2 to 7 months depending on the capacity of the charco dam, household size and the number of livestock kept. The analysis revealed that major problems causing poor performance of the charco dams were: (i) rapid siltation of the charco dams, (ii) low water retention period, and (iii) lack of or inadequate working tools to carry out maintenance works. Although most of the charco dam owners were aware of the first two problems they were not sure of their causes or their proper remedies. Evaluations done in 2003 and early 2004 has revealed that after improvement of the charco dams, the water retention period has increased by 2 months for the same household size and number of livestock. It was also noted that even those charco dam owners who were at first reluctant to join the initiative; have improved their charco dams accordingly through knowledge sharing with their neighbours. The study has shown that although farmers and pastoralists are endowed with vast indigenous knowledge, their technical know-how has some limitations. They therefore need to be supported by local institutions with the required technical know-how in order to sharpen their skills. This will enable them to realise the anticipated fruits. When a participatory approach is used to build their capacity by imparting new knowledge and skills, the performance and sustainability of rainwater harvesting systems will greatly be enhanced.