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.

Attributing Ethiopian animal health losses to high-level causes using expert elicitation.

The Global Burden of Animal Diseases programme is currently working to estimate the burden of animal health loss in Ethiopia. As part of this work, structured expert elicitation has been trialled to attribute the proportion of animal health losses due to three independent and exhaustive high-level causes (infectious, non-infectious, and external). Separate in-person workshops were conducted with eight cattle, nine small ruminant, and eight chicken experts. Following the Investigate-Discuss-Estimate-Aggregate protocol for structured expert elicitation, estimates were obtained for the proportion of animal health loss due to high-level causes in different combinations of health loss, species, age-sex class, and production system. Three-point questions were used to inform beta-pert distributions and capture uncertainty in estimates. Individual expert estimates were aggregated by quantile mean to produce average distributions. Random samples from these average distributions estimated that infectious causes inflict the highest proportion of health loss in Ethiopia, with at least 40 % of health losses estimated to be due to infectious causes in all categories. This study provides a rapid, simple, and engaging method to attribute the burden of animal health loss at a high-level. Results are informative, however will become increasingly useful once they can be compared with results from more sophisticated, data-driven models.

Epidemiology of Newcastle disease in chickens of Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

The objective of this systematic review was to estimate the overall pooled prevalence of Newcastle disease in chickens in Ethiopia and identify the sources of heterogeneity among and within studies. The seroprevalence of Newcastle disease was estimated using a single-group meta-analysis. Attempts were also made to identify study-level variables that could explain the heterogeneity in the apparent seroprevalence of the Newcastle disease. The findings were based on 16 published articles and 33 district-level reports and were limited to studies performed during 2005-2017. Due to the presence of heterogeneity, pooled analysis from different districts was conducted using random-effects meta-analysis. The single-group summary of Newcastle disease seroprevalence in chickens was estimated to be 21.47% (19.54-23.4%) with a 95% confidence interval. Our results indicated high inter-study variability (Cochran's Q statistic = 196.2, true variance (τ2) = 0.36, inverse variance index (I2) = 90.0%, p < 0.001). Of all variables analysed, diagnostic techniques and regions were the most significant predictors (p ˂ 0.05) of heterogeneity. According to the diagnostic technique-based meta-analysis of random pooled prevalence, the haemagglutination inhibition test had the highest prevalence, followed by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. In conclusion, the high-pooled prevalence estimates of the disease, combined with the scarcity of published data for the entire country of Ethiopia, indicate a significant data gap on the distribution of Newcastle disease in the country. While the high pooled prevalence tells the need for intervention to control the disease, there is also a need to assess the disease prevalence in all other parts of the country.

Assessment of Major Causes of Calf Mortality in Urban and Periurban Dairy Production System of Ethiopia.

A cross-sectional calf mortality study was conducted in urban and periurban dairy farms in Addis Ababa, special zones of Oromia and Amhara regions in July and August 2015. The objectives of the study were to estimate the annual mortality and to assess the major causes of calf mortality in the dairy farms. One-year retrospective data on calf mortality were collected from 330 farms by face-to-face interview using the pretested and structured questionnaire format and direct observation of farm practices. A logistic regression analysis was performed in order to identify the predictor variables associated with early calf mortality. Data were analysed using Statistical Package, Stata SE for Windows, version 12.0. The annual mean calf mortality from birth-to-weaning was reported as 18.5% (95% CI: 12.6, 24.3%). The prenatal loss due to fetal death and stillbirth was 10.1% (95% CI: 6.7, 13.6%). The overall annual loss due to fetal death and calf preweaning mortality was 26.7% (95% CI: 21.2, 32.2%). Age-specific mortality declined with increased age, and the highest mortality was recorded during the first month of life extending up to the third month of age. Disease was the most important causes of calf mortality (73.2%). Among the diseases, diarrhea (63%) and respiratory disorders (17%) were the important causes of calf mortality. Malpractices in calf management were identified, including restricted colostrum and milk feeding, poor care and supplemental feeding, and poor health management. Interventions in dairy cattle health and farm husbandry are recommended to control calf mortality.

Molecular identification and investigations of contagious ecthyma (Orf virus) in small ruminants, North west Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Orf virus, the prototype of parapoxvirus, is the main causative agent of contagious ecthyma. Little is known about the status of the disease in Ethiopia and this study was aimed at determining its status using PCR as a confirmatory tool. METHODS: a total of 400 randomly selected sheep and goat was screened for the identification of the virus using amplification of B2L gene and transfection of mammalian cells (VERO cells). RESULTS: Out of 400 animals screened for infection of the virus, 48 animals were found positive to PCR and revealed an overall incidence of 12%. Different epidemiological parameters were considered to look at the association with incidence of the disease and of which, only species of the animal(sheep), non-vaccinated and non-treated animals, nursing animals, poor body condition animals, extensively managed animals, animals having mouth lesion, and study areas having outbreak history showed higher prevalence. A univariate logistic regression analysis showed statistically significant difference in all variables (P < 0.05). Whereas, age and sex of animals showed no significant difference (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The result of the present finding showed high incidence of Orf virus in the region as confirmed through PCR.

Seroprevalence of ovine brucellosis in south Wollo, north eastern Ethiopia.

A cross-sectional study was conducted in south Wollo zone, north east Ethiopia between October, 2008 and March, 2009 aimed at determining the sero-prevalence and to identify potential risk factors of ovine brucellosis. A total of 800 sheep were sampled from two districts, Kalu and Harbu. All sheep above six months of age with no history of previous vaccination against brucellosis were selected. Rose Bengal Plate Test (RBPT) was utilized as a screening test for Brucella agglutinins while Complement Fixation Test (CFT) (Addlestone, United Kingdom) was used to confirm the reactors by RBPT. Over all seroprevalence of 1.5% (12 of 800) ovine brucellosis was observed. Seroprevalence was higher in female sheep compared to male sheep. Seroprevalence was calculated between sexually immature and sexually mature sheep, between animals kept under extensive and semi-intensive management system, and between animals of the two districts. Higher levels of sero-prevalence was observed in sexually mature sheep, in animals kept under extensive management system, and in sheep of Kalu with level of 1.54%, 1.6% and 1.58%, respectively. However, there was no statistically significant difference between the sero-prevalences of brucellosis in the different study groups of sheep. In conclusion, even though the prevalence of brucellosis observed in this study is low, it can be potential hazard for public health in the study area; therefore, the public especially small ruminant producers should be informed about the risk of ovine brucellosis.