Mon, 01 May 2017 12:23:07 +0000
By SIMON MWANZA
A GROUP of local and international players have launched a cost-effective and low-tech early warning system to mitigate the devastating impact of livestock diseases in Zambia.
According to project coordinator Dr Danie Odendaal, the system, anchored on improving overall early warning and response capacity, has been pioneered by the University of Africa, Musika, Afrivet and Veterinary Network.
“The linchpin of the system is the user-friendly step by step diagnosis manual that equips livestock farmers with the invaluable skill of early cattle disease detection using their eyes,” said Dr Odendaal.
In an interview, Dr Odendaal said regardless of literacy levels, livestock farmers would be able to detect diseases such as Foot and Mouth as well as other tick and fly borne animal diseases using the system.
The Zambian livestock sector is worth more than US$1.5 billion, accounting for nearly 35 percent of agriculture’s share of the national gross domestic product (GDP).
The sector has experienced steady growth of around 7 percent and 10 percent annually.
Despite the positive trend, the sector continues to face many challenges, including rampant livestock disease outbreaks and poor disease control mechanisms.
This had a devastating impact on livestock productivity, human health and overall economic development.
To achieve low breakout and transmission rates, smallholder livestock farmers were being trained in conducting accurate daily observations of cattle for diseases using the manual.
The manual details logical and structured order of observations of ‘‘normal’’ and ‘‘abnormal’’ body systems of cattle.
Dr Odendaal said major climatic changes coupled with changing consumer behaviour had increased the risk of cattle disease exposure and spread.
Compounding the situation was the huge cost associated with prevention and control.
He said the early warning system mitigated the risk of increased cattle diseases in the context of stretched resources available to most smallholder livestock farmers.
He noted that while the risk for cattle diseases had increased, budgetary constraints had led to a decline in public services for vaccination and treatment of livestock.
“All these constitute key risk factors for preventing and controlling cattle disease, which could easily spread, resulting in huge losses, including human life,” he said.
