Raising livestock in resource-poor communities of the North West Province of South Africa - a participatory rural appraisal study

Abstract

A participatory research model was used in six village communities in the Central Region of the North West Province of South Africa in order to achieve the following broad objectives : to obtain information on the challenges owners face in raising livestock in these areas and to evaluate the livestock owners' level of knowledge of internal parasites in their animals. Information obtained at participatory workshops clearly indicated a need for improvements in water supply, schools, job creation, and health services. Lack of pasture for grazing livestock was also cited as being important. Other most frequently mentioned livestock problems included 'gall sickness' (a vaguely defined condition not necessarily referring to anaplasmosis), parasites (both external and internal), chicken diseases and ingestion of plastic bags discarded in the environment. When livestock owners were questioned during individual interviews, most were able to identify the presence of parasites in either the live or dead animal. However, it seems likely that this is limited to the identification of tapeworms. It was found that most livestock owners use a combination of treatments, ranging from traditional to folklore to commercial. There were some difficulties in using the participatory methods since it was the first time that the facilitators and the communities had been exposed to them. Many communities had difficulty in dealing with the concept of finding solutions within the community, which is such an integral part of participatory methods

A questionnaire survey of perceptions and preventive measures related to animal health amongst cattle owners of rural communities in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

“…Deworming appears to be a frequent practice, but efficacy may be questionable, as owners deworming their animals were also significantly (P < 0.05) more likely to state that worms were a health problem in their cattle. This fact and that long intervals between worm treatments occurred, support the likelihood of inefficacy of internal parasite treatment, an effect that was also observed by Getchel et al 4 , who also found that the medication is often severely underdosed. To address this, deworming practices and treatments applied should be further investigated and advice on appropriate treatment, as well as management practices should be integrated in the programme of farmer's days and other information pathways.…”

Association between the Prevalence of Indigestible Foreign Objects in the Gastrointestinal Tract of Slaughtered Cattle and Body Condition Score

“…Animals in both commercial and communal farm land consume these materials during grazing. According to Getchell [ 37 ], livestock in resource-poor communities in South Africa frequently ingest plastic material in a bid to access food material enclosed in polyethene bags. In other parts of Africa, there have been similar reports of high prevalence of plastic in the stomach of cattle by Mohammed and Fromsa [ 6 ], who found 59.6% prevalence in Ethiopia, and Mushonga et al [ 9 ], who reported 65.0% prevalence in Rwanda.…”

Increasing the Local Relevance of Epidemiological Research: Situated Knowledge of Cattle Disease Among Basongora Pastoralists in Uganda

“…Demands by funding bodies and the wider research culture for concrete and timely deliverables are important reasons why many studies have a pre-set and often rather narrow focus. In some cases, participatory methodologies are used as a first “scoping” stage, to set more detailed priorities for further research or development activities ( 4 , 34 , 35 ). Other studies focus on singling out “the most important disease in the studied community,” signifying a compartmentalistic view of animal management and health grounded in an illusion of a healthy animal being struck by a solitary disease event ( 36 ).…”