Controlling Tsetse Flies and Ticks Using Insecticide Treatment of Cattle in Tororo District Uganda: Cost Benefit Analysis.

Background: The endemic vector-borne diseases transmitted by tsetse and ticks impose heavy burdens on the livestock keepers in Africa. Applying deltamethrin to the belly, legs, and ears of cattle offers a possibility of mitigating these losses at a cost affordable to livestock keepers. Although studies have quantified the impacts of individual diseases on livestock productivity, little is known about the dual economic benefits of controlling both tsetse and ticks, nor about the number of cattle that need to be treated to confer these benefits. Alongside an epidemiological study in south-east Uganda, a farm level assessment was done to investigate the benefits and costs of spraying different proportions of the village cattle population using this restricted application protocol. Methods: A study comprising 1,902 semi-structured interviews was undertaken over a period of 18 months. Financial data on household income and expenditure on cattle was collected, and cost-benefit analysis was done pre- and post-intervention and for different spraying regimes. The total cost of the intervention was obtained from the implementation costs of the epidemiological study and from expenses incurred by participating farmers enabling examination of benefit-cost ratios and incremental benefit-cost ratios for each treatment regime. Results: The benefit-cost analysis of spraying 25%, 50%, and 75% of the cattle population yielded average benefit-cost ratios of 3.85, 4.51, and 4.46. The incremental benefit-cost ratios from spraying each additional 25% of the cattle population were 11.38, 3.89, and 0.79, showing a very high return on investment for spraying 50% of the population, with returns reducing thereafter. Conclusion: Comparing the gross margins per bovine, the study found that increasing the proportion of cattle sprayed yielded increasing benefits to the farmers, but that these benefits were subject to diminishing returns. From a practical viewpoint, this study recommends spraying only draft cattle to control trypanosomiasis and tick-borne diseases in this area as they make 38.62% of the cattle population, approaching the 50% threshold. In areas with a lower proportion of draft males, farmers could be advised to also include cows.

African animal trypanosomiasis as a constraint to livestock health and production in Karamoja region: a detailed qualitative and quantitative assessment.

BACKGROUND: Nagana (African Animal Trypanosomiasis-AAT) and tick-borne diseases (TBDs) constrain livestock production in most parts of sub-Saharan Africa. To this realisation, Uganda government set up an African trypanosomiasis (AT) control unit, which among other activities generates national tsetse control priority maps using apparent tsetse density data. Such maps underestimate mechanically transmitted AAT and thus ought to be refined using actual AT prevalence data. We therefore set out to generate up-to-date cattle and donkey trypanosomiasis prevalence data as well as find out the constraints to livestock production in Karamoja region in a bid to re-define AT control priority in this region. RESULTS: Livestock keepers and animal health workers indicated that TBDs and AAT were the most important livestock diseases in Karamoja region. The prevalence of Trypanosoma spp. in cattle and donkeys was 16.3% (95% CI: 12.4-21.1%) and 32.4% (95% CI; 20.2-47.6%) respectively. Trypanosoma vivax (12.1%) and Trypanosoma congolense savannah (29.6%) were the most prevalent Trypanosoma spp. in cattle and donkeys respectively. Majority of the cattle (85.7%) and more than half of the donkey (57.1%) herds were positive for Trypanosoma spp. CONCLUSIONS: African animal trypanosomiasis and TBDs are the most important constraints to livestock production in Karamoja region. In order to improve livestock production and hence Karamajong livelihoods, government of Uganda and her development partners will need to invest in livestock health programs particularly targeting tsetse and TBD control.

Contribution of draft cattle to rural livelihoods in a district of southeastern Uganda endemic for bovine parasitic diseases: an economic evaluation.

BACKGROUND: A study was conducted in Tororo District in eastern Uganda to assess the socio-economic contribution of draft cattle to rural livelihoods. The aim of the study was to empirically quantify the economic value of draft cattle thus contributing to understanding the impact of endemic parasitic diseases of cattle on livestock productivity and subsequently household income, labor and food security. METHOD: A total of 205 draft cattle keeping households (n = 205) were randomly selected and structured household questionnaires were administered, focusing on work oxen use, productivity, inputs and outputs. The data obtained was analyzed using standard statistical methods and used to calculate the gross margin from the draft cattle enterprise. Secondary data were obtained from focus group discussions and key informant interviews and these were analyzed using Bayesian methods. RESULTS: The study showed that, apart from being labor saving, the use of animal traction is highly profitable with the gross margin per year from the use of draft cattle amounting to 245 United States dollars per work oxen owning household. The cash obtained from hiring out draft animals was equivalent to nearly a quarter of the average local household's monetary receipts. It also revealed that endemic bovine parasitic diseases such as trypanosomiasis and tick-borne diseases reduced draft cattle output by 20.9 % and potential household income from the use of draft oxen by 32.2 %. CONCLUSION: The presence of endemic cattle diseases in rural Uganda is adversely affecting the productivity of draft cattle, which in turn affects household income, labor and ultimately food security. This study highlights the contribution of draft cattle to rural livelihoods, thus increasing the expected impact of cost-effective control strategies of endemic production limiting livestock diseases in Uganda.

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

BACKGROUND: Tsetse-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. METHODS: A 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. RESULTS: The 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. CONCLUSIONS: Cost 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.