Farmers in Uganda gain from training in pig production and marketing

Pig production is an important livelihood activity for some 1 million smallholder households in Uganda, given the growing demand for pork in both rural and urban areas.

However, many smallholder pig farmers are constrained by lack of adequate information on animal health, feeding and breeding that can help them improve their pig husbandry and scale up their operations towards commercialized production and greater profits.

Pig Production and Marketing Uganda Limited works with pig farmers – from smallholder to large-scale – to increase productivity and create a reliable market for pig farm produce. The organization also offers technical support to pig farmers in Uganda.

As part of its efforts towards improving pig husbandry in Uganda, the organization held a training workshop on 14-15 February 2014 in Matugga, Wakiso District for some 70 farmers.

The aim of the workshop was to share knowledge on modern pig farming methods and good agricultural practices in pig husbandry. Other topics included feeding, breeding, pig health, management of pig diseases, farm management and record keeping.

Scientists from the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) were invited to participate in the workshop as part of the team of facilitators.

Danilo Pezo, coordinator an ILRI project on smallholder pig value chain development in Uganda, gave the opening address. Kristina Roesel, coordinator of the ILRI-led Safe Food, Fair Food project, facilitated a session on pig and pork zoonoses in Uganda.

.

The event received media coverage in the Daily Monitor newspaper (Piggery: Farmers urged on best practices, 19 Feb 2014)

Related blog post: Ugandans and pork: A story that needs telling (ILRI News blog, 19 Feb 2014)

 

ILRI to lead pilot study on livestock identification and traceability system for IGAD region

Participants of a workshop on developing a livestock identification and traceability system for the IGAD region (photo credit: ILRI/Liya Dejene).

A livestock identification and traceability system will soon be piloted in the Intergovernmental Agency on Development (IGAD) region, following discussions at a workshop held last week (4-5 February) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to review existing national systems and identify practical options towards a harmonized system for the region.

The IGAD region is home to 336 million ruminants and the livestock sector contributes significantly to the economy of countries in the region and to the livelihoods of millions of pastoralists and smallholder livestock keepers and traders.

Regional harmonization of livestock identification and traceability systems, based on international standards of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), would improve coordination of surveillance and control of transboundary animal diseases, thereby enhancing regional trade in livestock and livestock products.

Some 35 participants attended the workshop, drawn from both the public and private sectors. Tanzania, although not a member of IGAD, was also represented at the meeting. In addition to chief veterinary officers and national experts in livestock identification and traceability from IGAD member countries, representatives were present from the following institutions and programs:

• African Union – Interafrican Bureau on Animal Resources (AU-IBAR),
• Agricultural Growth Program-Livestock Market Development (AGP-LMD)
• CNFA South Sudan Cattle Program
• East African Community,
• Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO),
• International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI),
• IGAD Centre for Pastoral Areas and Livestock Development (ICPALD),
• Kenya Livestock Marketing Council,
• Kenya Meat Commission, and
• Northeast Africa Livestock Council.

Presentations were made on the status of livestock production and trade in the region, an ongoing project on standard methods and procedures in animal health, and the status of livestock identification and traceability systems in the respective countries in the IGAD region.

The Standard Methods and Procedures in Animal Health (SMP-AH) project is coordinated by AU-IBAR and IGAD with financial support from the East Africa regional program of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). It is a four year project (2012-2016) being carried out in Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania to support harmonization and coordination of disease surveillance, and the prevention and control of trade-related transboundary animal diseases.

Among the expected outputs of the SMP-AH project are:

• the establishment of a framework for surveillance and control of trade-related animal diseases;
• harmonization of laboratory testing procedures for the priority animal diseases in the region;
• the establishment of standards for regional quarantine stations; and
• enhanced technical and coordination capacity of participating countries and the IGAD region at large.

The presentations on the status of livestock identification and traceability systems in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania covered the current activities in the respective countries, the interventions that the countries would need to improve the already existing systems, the foreseen challenges in the implementation of the proposed system, and the steps that can be taken towards regional harmonization of systems in the IGAD region.

During the discussions that followed, participants were able to share their experiences and learn from other countries. In addition, a status review of animal identification and traceability systems in other countries in Africa – in particular Namibia and Botswana that have highly specialized systems – and in the United States of America helped to give a wider outlook on continental and global scale.

Based on the plenary presentations and discussions, the participants identified the livestock identification and traceability options that can be used to design a regional system. In order of priority, the options are as follows:

• Visual tamperproof ear tags with ISO coding
• Visual tamperproof ear tags (with ISO coding) plus hot-iron branding in insecure areas
• Radio frequency identification (RFID) ear tags
• RFID bolus (for ruminants)
• Microchip implants (for controlled trials) with hot-iron branding to deter theft

From the presentations, discussions and consensus reached, the workshop came up with the following general recommendations:

1. Develop a pilot project on a livestock identification and traceability system for the IGAD region (including Tanzania) based on the criteria listed below:
   • Areas with identified target market and export facilities such as quarantine stations and abattoirs
   • Areas with confirmed security concerns
   • Areas with cross border movement
   • Areas with fairly advanced livestock identification and traceability systems
   • Areas with confirmed animal health concerns
   • Areas with major livestock trade routes
2. Develop an IGAD umbrella body that would oversee the implementation of the livestock identification and traceability system in the region.
3. Develop guidelines, procedures and regional coordination mechanisms by the umbrella body in conjunction with states that have current and proposed livestock identification and traceability activities.
4. Encourage international and regional organizations such as OIE, FAO and AU-IBAR to hasten the development, finalization and dissemination of guidelines on livestock identification and traceability systems to assist the developing countries.
5. Encourage the member states to establish and strengthen their livestock identification and traceability systems as an important tool for trade and disease control.
6. AU-IBAR and IGAD should organize exposure visits to areas with reasonably advanced livestock identification and traceability systems.

For more information about this work, contact Florence Mutua (f.mutua@cgiar.org) or Bernard Bett (b.bett@cgiar.org) of ILRI, or James Wabacha of AU-IBAR (james.wabacha@au-ibar.org).

Access the workshop proceedings

 

ILRI to host workshop on regional livestock identification and traceability system for IGAD countries

A batch of Somali goats destined for export markets. A harmonized livestock identification and traceability system in the IGAD region can improve efficiency of livestock marketing (photo credit: Terra Nuova).

Livestock identification and traceability systems enhance livestock production and trade by enabling improved surveillance and management of transboundary animal diseases. These systems can also be used to deter stock theft in areas that are prone to cattle rustling.

The livestock sector plays an important role in the economy of countries in the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) region. However, there is currently no harmonized system for livestock identification and traceability in the region, as countries are at different stages of setting up the required legal and institutional frameworks.

To address this issue, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in collaboration with the African Union – Interafrican Bureau on Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) and the IGAD Centre for Pastoral Areas and Livestock Development have convened a regional workshop on 4-5 February 2014 at the ILRI Addis Ababa Campus, Ethiopia.

The workshop brings together some 40 stakeholders from the public and private sectors in the IGAD region including chief veterinary officers, livestock producers, traders and transporters, meat processors, researchers and policymakers.

The objectives of the workshop are to:

• review the current livestock identification and traceability systems in the IGAD member states and the extent to which these systems have been used in the surveillance and management of transboundary animal diseases in the region;
• develop a consensus on the role of livestock identification and traceability systems in the region, given the existence of diverse livestock production systems, marketing channels and infrastructure; and
• identify practical options and approaches to develop a harmonized livestock identification and traceability system in the IGAD region.

For more information about the workshop, contact Florence Mutua (f.mutua@cgiar.org) or Bernard Bett (b.bett@cgiar.org) of ILRI, or James Wabacha of AU-IBAR (james.wabacha@au-ibar.org).

 

Poster on zoonoses research wins third prize at Medical Research Council centenary event

We are pleased to congratulate Elizabeth Cook, a graduate fellow at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) with the Zoonotic and Emerging Diseases research group, who won third prize in a poster competition held to commemorate 100 years since the founding of the UK Medical Research Council (MRC).

The MRC centenary celebration took place at the Royal Society, London on 10 December 2013 at a high-level event that brought together various heads of international biomedical research organizations, experienced researchers, parliamentarians and international research administrators and funders.

The poster competition had been organized for MRC-funded early-career researchers to communicate how international collaboration has been pivotal to their research. Cook’s PhD studentship at the University of Edinburgh is funded by the MRC.

Her poster, International partnerships – Shining the light on the neglected zoonoses, featured the People, Animals and their Zoonoses project which investigates zoonoses in western Kenya towards developing appropriate interventions for disease prevention and control.

The coordinating partners in the project are the University of Edinburgh, the Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kenya’s Department of Veterinary Services and ILRI.

The project also works in partnership with a number of universities and research institutes across the world for sampling, diagnostics and data analysis.

Funding for the project is from the Wellcome Trust and the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH).

 

ILRI project poster wins top prize at international ecohealth conference

A poster based on research led by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) towards improving productivity and food safety in smallholder pig value chains in Uganda won the Best Poster award at the Africa 2013 EcoHealth Conference held in Côte d’Ivoire on 1-5 October 2013.

The poster, Assessment of knowledge, attitudes and practices on pork safety among smallholder pig farmers in Uganda, was prepared by Kristina Roesel, a PhD student at Freie Universität Berlin and coordinator of the ILRI-led Safe Food, Fair Food project.

The study was carried out by the Safe Food, Fair Food project in collaboration with the Smallholder Pig Value Chains Development in Uganda project.

.

 

FoodAfrica research studies featured during ILRI seminar on aflatoxins

Maize contaminated with aflatoxin (photo credit: IITA).

On 22 August 2013, the Biosciences eastern and central Africa hub at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and ILRI’s Food Safety and Zoonoses program hosted a half-day seminar on the current status on aflatoxin research and management at ILRI.

The open forum was an opportunity for different working groups to engage in discussions on the ongoing and planned research projects. The seminar brought together some 30 participants and a total of 13 presentations were given on aflatoxin assessment, diagnostics, analysis and mitigation.

Aflatoxins are highly toxic metabolites produced by the mould Aspergillus flavus and known to cause suppression of the immune system, liver disease and death in both humans and animals.

Aspergillus can grow in a wide range of foods and feed and thrive under favourable growth conditions of high temperature and moisture content. Aflatoxins from contaminated animal feed can end up in milk.

Three research studies that are part of the project Measuring and mitigating the risk of mycotoxins in maize and dairy products for poor consumers in Kenya (MyDairy project) were featured during the seminar.

The goal of the MyDairy project – the fifth of seven work packages of the FoodAfrica program – is to reduce the risk of mycotoxin contamination of staple crops in Kenya.

ILRI graduate fellow Anima Sirma presented an overview of her planned PhD research on risk assessment of aflatoxins in the Kenyan dairy value chain. The objectives of the study are to characterize the key risks of aflatoxins, identify the best control options and provide risk managers with information for decision-making.

Daniel Senerwa, another ILRI graduate fellow working towards a PhD, presented his proposed research that seeks to quantify the economic costs of aflatoxins in the Kenyan dairy value chain and examine the cost effectiveness of mitigation strategies.

Sirma and Senerwa are veterinary scientists and are undertaking their PhD studies at the University of Nairobi’s Faculty of Veterinary Sciences.

Sara Ahlberg, a dairy technologist from Finland and ILRI associate research officer, presented an overview of her work on a novel biological method to mitigate aflatoxin-induced risks in food and feed with dairy-derived proteins and peptides and lactic acid bacteria that have the ability to bind aflatoxins or inhibit the growth of mycotoxin-producing moulds.

Download the seminar report

 

Keeping cows in the city, chickens under the bed: ‘The Atlantic’ magazine explores Africa’s urbanization

Delia Grace, food safety specialist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), is cited in this feature article on urban livestock farming and zoonoses in Dagoretti, Nairobi.

Research by Grace and colleagues found that peer pressure and targeted messages on hygienic livestock keeping work better to control the spread of cryptosporidiosis than banning the keeping of animals.

ILRI Clippings

Butcher shop in a slum in Kawangare, Nairobi, Kenya (picture on Flickr by Brad Ruggles).

It’s not only people who are rapidly urbanizing in Africa: people migrating from rural areas are bringing their livelihoods with them, which in Africa largely means their cattle, goats, sheep, chickens and pigs. A scientific report from researchers based in Nairobi, Kenya, investigating the benefits and harms of livestock keeping in two of Africa’s most crowded and sprawling cities —Nairobi and Ibadan — recommends that people ‘keep on keeping cows’ but keep them more carefully so as to reduce the risk of diseases being transmitted from livestock to people.

Importantly, the study also finds that  peer pressure — not health codes — is the answer to more careful management of the growing livestock enterprises in Africa’s slums and urban centres.

The Atlantic, one of North America’s most popular and distinguished cultural and political magazines, explores this…

View original post 652 more words

 

ILRI project surveys aflatoxin risk in the feed-dairy chain in Kenya

ILRI graduate fellow Taishi Kayano collects milk samples from a Kenyan dairy farm as part of a qualitative survey on aflatoxins in the dairy chain in Kenya. (photo credit: ILRI/Taishi Kayano).

In January 2013, an international, multidisciplinary team of five upcoming researchers undertook a scoping survey of aflatoxins in the feed-dairy chain in Kenya as part of activities of the project, “Measuring and mitigating the risk of mycotoxins in maize and dairy products for poor consumers in Kenya” (MyDairy project).

The team comprised Kenyan PhD students Anima Sirma and Daniel Senerwa, American intern Calvin Pohl, Japanese veterinary student Taishi Kayano and Kenyan postdoctoral scientist Teresa Kiama.

They visited nine districts and 27 villages in rural Kenya where they led participatory rapid appraisals on dairying and aflatoxins and held focus group discussions with women dairy farmers.

In addition, all the communities visited were given information and training on safe handling and storage of milk and animal feed.

The qualitative part of the survey collected data on the type of feeds, milk yield and the storage period for milk and feed, among other variables.

Samples of milk and feed were also collected for laboratory analysis to investigate the association between the condition of cattle and the prevalence of aflatoxin in milk.

The results of the qualitative survey are being analyzed but preliminary findings show that the surveyed farmers use a variety of feeding practices for their dairy cattle and most of the milk is marketed in the informal sector as raw, unprocessed milk.

Recalling his field research experience as an ILRI graduate fellow, Kayano had this to say:

“I visited farmers with livestock officers or chiefs in the districts. Without their help, I wouldn’t have been able to get meet the local farmers and collect the milk and feed samples.

“They also helped to identify the precise locations of the dairy farms; this was very useful as there are no detailed maps of dairy farms.

“The livestock officers also translated our questionnaires from English to Kiswahili which was a key step in acquiring the data needed for the study.

“An internship at ILRI is a really good opportunity for students who would like to work on a short-term basis in an international research institution and to experience doing research in a developing country context.”

Read more about the MyDairy project

 

Tracking of free range domestic pigs in western Kenya provides new insights into dynamics of disease transmission

Typical mixed crop-livestock farming of western Kenya. Many smallholder farmers in western Kenya are taking advantage of the growing demand for pork to keep free-ranging pigs as a commercial enterprise (photo credit: ILRI/Pye-Smith).

Many people are familiar with the use of global positioning system (GPS) technology as a security measure to track the movement of vehicles, mobile phones and sophisticated high-tech gadgets and assets.

But researchers at the University of Edinburgh and the International Livestock Research Institute are using GPS technology to track the movement of a different kind of asset that, though not motorized or electronic, is nonetheless of great value to resource-poor farmers in rural western Kenya: free-ranging domestic pigs.

In western Kenya, as in many parts of the developing world, rural households keep pigs under extensive, low-input systems where the animals are left free to roam and scavenge food outside the homestead.

Such low capital investment production systems enable smallholder farmers to benefit from pig production by taking advantage of the growing demand for pork, especially in urban areas.

It is well known that irrespective of the production system under which they are kept, pigs can be the host of a variety of disease-causing microorganisms.

However, pigs that are left to roam freely and scavenge food have a much higher risk of picking up diseases and infections like the pork tapeworm and African swine fever and passing them on to other domestic and wild animals as well as to people.

Understanding the movement patterns of free-ranging pigs in a rural setting can help animal health researchers develop effective disease control policies for smallholder pig production systems, based on a better understanding of the patterns of disease transmission within populations of free range pigs.

The results of a year-long pig tracking study carried out in Busia, western Kenya between March 2011 and February 2012 are now available in the March 2013 issue of the open access journal BMC Veterinary Research.

The pigs were fitted with GPS collars that tracked their movements and recorded their location coordinates every 3 minutes for one week. The location data were then transmitted to a central GPS server for analysis. Blood samples were also collected from the pigs to check for infection with gastrointestinal parasites.

“This is the first study to use GPS technology to collect data on the home range of domestic pigs kept under a free range system and the data will give us new insights into the behaviour of free-ranging pigs in a resource-poor setting,” the authors say.

The study found that the free-ranging pigs spent almost half their time outside their homestead of origin, travelling an average of 4,340 metres in a 12 hour period.

This result shows that with respect to pathogen transmission, the village environment beyond the farm matters just as much as the environment on the farm itself.

In addition, the researchers found that free range domestic pigs spend a lot of energy while foraging and this reduced their potential for weight gain and economic benefit to their owners.

This is because the sale price is normally pegged on the live weight of the pigs: a heavier pig translates into more cash for the farmer.

“The movement data can also be combined with information on ration formulation and daily weight gain to provide farmers with advice on how to change their animal husbandry practices to improve the profitability of pig production,” the authors conclude.

Read the abstract here

Citation: Thomas LF, de Glanville WA, Cook EA and Fèvre EM. 2013. The spatial ecology of free-ranging domestic pigs (Sus scrofa) in western Kenya. BMC Veterinary Research 9: 46. doi:10.1186/1746-6148-9-46

Find out more about the Zoonotic and Emerging Diseases Research Group which is led by co-author Eric Fèvre.

 

Kenya launches Zoonotic Disease Unit to improve prevention and control of zoonoses

Boran cattle grazing at Kapiti ranch in Kenya. The Zoonotic Disease Unit in Kenya will use One Health approaches to improve prevention and control of zoonoses (photo credit: ILRI).

The One Health approach for the prevention and control of zoonotic diseases (diseases transmitted between animals and humans) was institutionalized in Kenya following the official launch of the country’s Zoonotic Disease Unit in Nairobi on 3 October 2012.

The occasion also featured the launch of the strategic plan for the implementation of One Health in Kenya. The strategic plan has the following three goals:

• To strengthen surveillance, prevention and control of zoonoses in both humans and animals
• To establish structures and partnerships that promote One Health approaches
• To conduct applied research at the human-animal-ecosystem interface in order to better understand the mechanism of maintenance and transmission of zoonotic pathogens

The Zoonotic Disease Unit is the first of its kind in Africa and will serve as a model for the region in implementing innovative and integrated approaches to investigate outbreaks of zoonoses towards improved disease surveillance, prevention and control.

The Unit was set up in 2011 by the Ministry of Livestock Development and the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation with the main objective of establishing and maintaining active collaboration at the animal, human and ecosystem interface towards better prevention and control of zoonotic diseases.

The United States Department of State Biosecurity Engagement Program, the United States Department of Defense and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention supported the Government of Kenya in the establishment of the Zoonotic Diseases Unit.

The implementing partners include the African Union – Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).

For more information, please visit the website of the Zoonotic Disease Unit at http://zdukenya.org.