Danilo A. Pezo

Participatory assessment of animal health and husbandry practices in smallholder pig production systems in three high poverty districts in Uganda

While animal health constraints have been identified as a major limiting factor in smallholder pig production in Uganda, researchers and policy makers lack information on the relative incidence of diseases and their impacts on pig production. This study aimed to assess animal health and management practices, constraints and opportunities for intervention in smallholder pig value chains in three high poverty districts of Uganda. Semi-qualitative interview checklists through Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were administered to 340 pig farmers in 35 villages in Masaka, Kamuli and Mukono districts. Quantitative data was obtained during the exercise through group consensus. Results of FGDs were further triangulated with secondary data and information obtained from key informant interviews. Findings show that pig keeping systems are dominated by tethering and scavenging in rural areas. In peri-urban and urban areas, intensive production systems are more practiced, with pigs confined in pens. The main constraints identified by farmers include high disease burden such as African swine fever (ASF) and parasites, poor housing and feeding practices, poor veterinary services, ineffective drugs and a general lack of knowledge on piggery management. According to farmers, ASF is the primary cause of pig mortality with epidemics occurring mainly during the dry season. Worms and ectoparasites namely; mange, lice and flies are endemic leading to stunted growth which reduces the market value of pigs. Diarrhoea and malnutrition are common in piglets. Ninety-three percent of farmers say they practice deworming, 37% practice ectoparasite spraying and 77% castrate their boars. Indigenous curative treatments include the application of human urine and concoctions of local herbs for ASF control and use of old engine oil or tobacco extracts to control ectoparasites. There is a need for better technical services to assist farmers with these problems.

Sero-prevalence of Taenia spp. cysticercosis in rural and urban smallholder pig production settings in Uganda.

The pork tapeworm, Taenia solium, is prevalent in Uganda although the prevalence has not been determined in all areas of the country. A cross-sectional study, to determine the sero-prevalence of the parasite in pigs kept under rural and urban production settings, was carried out in three Ugandan districts, Masaka, Mukono and Kamuli. Serum samples from 1185 pigs were tested for the presence of T. solium cysticercosis antigen using the HP10 antigen-ELISA (Ag-ELISA) and the ApDia Ag-ELISA assays. Using parallel interpretation of the two tests showed lower levels of observed prevalence of T. solium in rural production settings (10.8%) compared to urban (17.1%). Additionally, Maximum Likelihood Estimation for evaluating assays in the absence of a gold standard, using TAGS on the R platform, estimated the true sero-prevalence to be lower in rural production setting, 0.0% [0.0-3.2%; 95% confidence interval (CI)] than in urban production setting, 12.3% (4.2-77.5% CI). When the sensitivity/specificity (Se/Sp) of the assays were estimated, assuming conditional independence of the tests, HP10 Ag-ELISA was more sensitive and specific [(Se=53.9%; 10.1-100% CI), (Sp=97.0%; 95.9-100% CI)] than the ApDia assay [(Se=20.2%; 1.5-47.7% CI), (Sp=92.2%; 90.5-93.9% CI)]. Subject to parasitological verification, these results indicate there may be a need to implement appropriate control measures for T. solium in the study areas.

Qualitative analysis of the risks and practices associated with the spread of African swine fever within the smallholder pig value chains in Uganda

A study was undertaken between September 2014 and December 2014 to assess the perceptions of smallholder pig value chain actors of the risks and practices associated with the spread of African swine fever (ASF) disease within the pig value chains. Data was collected from 136 value chain actors and 36 key informants through 17 group discussions and two key informant interview (KII) sessions respectively using Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) tools. Results from this study revealed that according to value chain actors and stakeholders, the transporting, slaughtering, and collecting/bulking nodes represent the highest risk, followed by the inputs and services (feeds and drugs) supply nodes. The processing, whole sale and consumption nodes represented the lowest risk. Value chain actors are aware of the disease and its consequences to the pig industry, however biosecurity measures are poorly implemented at all nodes. As for the causes, value chain actors pointed to several factors, such as inadequate knowledge of mechanisms for the spread of the disease, poor enforcement of regulations on disease control, and low capacities of actors to implement biosecurity measures, amongst others. Although traders, butchers and veterinary practitioners accepted that they played an important role in the spread of the virus, they did not perceive themselves as key actors in the control of the disease; instead, they believed that only farmers should adopt biosecurity measures on their farms because they keep the pigs for a longer period. Most of the recommendations given by the value chain actors for controlling and preventing ASF disease were short term, and targeted mainly pig producers. These recommendations included: the establishment of live pig collection centres so that traders and brokers do not have to directly access pig farms, capacity building of value chain actors on application of biosecurity, enactment and enforcement of by-laws on live pig movements and establishment of operational outbreak reporting mechanism at district level. Long term recommendations included the development of a vaccine, as well as pen-side diagnostic tests. This study suggests that interventions to control ASF disease through application of biosecurity measures should target all value chain nodes, while putting more emphasis on post-farm nodes especially the trading.

Governance structures in smallholder pig value chains in Uganda: constraints and opportunities for upgrading

This paper analyses governance structures in Uganda’s smallholder pig value chains by applying the New Institutional Economics framework. It utilises cross sectional and qualitative survey data from randomly selected pig value chain actors in 4 districts. A multinomial logit model is applied to assess the determinants of vertical integration among pig traders. The findings indicate that most relationships at the pig production node of the value chain are based on spot market governance structures supported by personal relationships and trust. Live pig traders are mostly vertically integrated. High integration levels of the pig traders are positively influenced by access to market information, value of investments in the value chain, and dedicated asset specificity in terms of backyard slaughter premises. Upgrading opportunities in the value chain in the form of value addition strategies, policy implementation and promotion of business models that link producer organisations to quality inputs and service s...