Population, distribution, biomass, and economic value of Equids in Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Equids play a crucial role in the Ethiopian economy, transporting agricultural inputs and outputs in the dominant subsistence agricultural systems and the critical link for value chains throughout the country. However, these species are often neglected in policies and interventions, which reflects the data and information gaps, particularly the contribution of working equids to Ethiopia. OBJECTIVE: To assess population dynamics, distribution, biomass, and economic value of equids in Ethiopia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Equine population data were obtained from the Ethiopian Central Statistics Agency (CSA) annual national agriculture surveys published yearbooks from 2004 to 2020. Parameters such as the number of effective service days and daily rental value were obtained from interviews and literature to estimate the stock monetary and service value of equids. Descriptive statistics were used to assess population dynamics and the geographical distribution was mapped. RESULTS: The estimated total Ethiopian equid population increased by more than doubled (by 131%) between 2004 and 2020 from 5.7 (4.9-6.6) million to 13.3 (11.6-15) million with 2.1 million horses, 10.7 million donkeys, and 380 thousand mules. Similarly, the number of households owning a working equid has increased. Equine populations are unevenly distributed across Ethiopia, although data were lacking in some districts of the country. The per human-capita equine population ranged from 0-0.52, 0-0.13, and 0-0.02 for donkeys, horses, and mules, respectively. The equid biomass was 7.4 (6.3-8.4) million Tropical livestock unit (TLU) (250 kg liveweight), 10% of total livestock biomass of the country. The stock monetary value of equids was USD 1,229 (651-1,908) million, accounting for 3.1% of total livestock monetary value and the services value of equids was USD 1,198 (825-1,516) million, which is 1.2% of Ethiopian 2021 expected GDP. CONCLUSION: The Ethiopian equine population has grown steadily over the last two decades. Equids play a central role in transportation and subsistence agriculture in Ethiopia and contribute significantly to the national economy. This pivotal role is insufficiently recognized in national livestock investments.

Seroepidemiology of Toxoplasma gondii in small ruminants in Northwest Ethiopia.

This cross-sectional study with a cluster random sampling method was undertaken from November 2018 to May 2019 to estimate the prevalence and assess the potential risk factors of T. gondii seropositivity, and to assess the association of the T. gondii seropositivity with reproductive losses in small ruminants in Northwest Ethiopia. A total of 576 blood samples from 135 small ruminant flocks were collected and assayed for T. gondii IgG antibodies using the Toxo-latex slide agglutination test. A questionnaire survey was also conducted to gather information on the potential risk factors of T. gondii seropositivity and on the status of reproductive losses in the small ruminant flocks. The study demonstrated a high flock and animal level T. gondii seroprevalence of 96.3% (95% CI: 91% - 98%) and 70.48% (95% CI: 68% - 79%), respectively. Mixed effect logistic regression analysis of the potential risk factors showed that the odds of seropositive for T. gondii was significantly higher in sheep (OR = 1.7, 95%CI: 1.19-2.46) than in goats, in adult (OR = 1.6, 95%, CI: 1.11-2.31) than in young, in the presence of cats (OR = 2, 95%CI:1.32-3.04) than in the absence of cats, in the lack of knowledge on the role of cats as a pathogen source than knowing it (OR = 1.82, 95% CI:1.21-2.77). The study also showed that the likelihoods of experiencing the abortion, neonatal death and weak birth in the previous one year in T. gondii seropositive flocks were 20.76 (95% CI: 2.2-195.1, p < 0.001), 8.90 (95% CI: 1.99-83.0, p = 0.021) and 9.33 (95% CI: 1.1-86.2, p = 0.019) times more than the seronegative flocks, respectively. In conclusion, this study revealed high flock and animal level seroprevalence of T. gondii in the small ruminant population in northwest Ethiopia, suggesting that lamb and goat might be a source of this pathogen for human infection if their infected meat is consumed undercooked or uncooked. Besides, the observed association of T. gondii seropositivity with reproductive losses may suggest the economic importance of the pathogen for the small ruminant producers. Therefore, it warrants control attention to reduce its economic and public health burden in the study areas. Further works on the economic impacts, bioassay, isolation, and genetic characterization of the pathogen are suggested.