Animal health perceptions and challenges among smallholder farmers around Kaziranga National Park, Assam, India: A study using participatory epidemiological techniques

Abstract

Improvements to smallholder farming are essential to improvements in rural prosperity. Small farmers in the Kaziranga region of Assam operate mixed farming enterprises in a resource limited environment, which is subject to seasonal flooding. Participatory techniques, were used to elucidate the animal health challenges experienced in this landscape in order to inform and guide future animal health education and interventions. The flooding is essential for agricultural activities, but is a source of major losses and disruption. Farmers experience significant losses to their crops due to raiding by wild species such as elephants; predation of livestock by wild carnivores is also of concern. Access to veterinary services and medicines is limited by both financial and geographic constraints. Interviewees discussed nutritional and management issues such as poor availability of fodder and grazing land, while meeting attendees preferred to concentrate discussions on animal health issues. Livestock keepers were adept and consistent at describing disease syndromes. The key challenges identified by farmers were: foot-and-mouth disease; Newcastle disease; haemorrhagic septicaemia; chronic fasciolosis; diarrhoea; bloating diseases; goat pox; and sarcoptic mange. Improvements in the efficiency of farming in this region is a prerequisite for the local achievement of United Nations Sustainable development goals. There exist clear opportunities to increase productivity and prosperity among farmers in this region through a combination of vaccination programmes and planned animal management schemes, driven by a programme of participatory farmer education.

Impact and Mitigation of Human-Elephant Conflict Around Kaziranga National Park, Assam, India

“…The combined effect of climate crisis, increasing human population, habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, changes in rainfall patterns, and changes in land-use patterns reduce wildland available to elephants, and increase interactions between humans and elephants, resulting in escalated human-elephant conflict (HEC) in India (Choudhury 1999, Sukumar 2006, Kangaraj et al 2019. HEC impacts elephant and human wellbeing and is a key constraint on agricultural productivity in affected regions (Hopker et al 2020).…”

Impact and Mitigation of Human-Elephant Conflict Around Kaziranga National Park, Assam, India

“…The combined effect of climate crisis, increasing human population, habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, changes in rainfall patterns, and changes in land-use patterns reduce wildland available to elephants, and increase interactions between humans and elephants, resulting in escalated human-elephant conflict (HEC) in India (Choudhury 1999, Sukumar 2006, Kangaraj et al 2019. HEC impacts elephant and human wellbeing and is a key constraint on agricultural productivity in affected regions (Hopker et al 2020).…”