West African Cattle Farmers’ Perception of Tick-Borne Diseases

Abstract

Worldwide, cattle production is struggling to face the negative impacts caused by ticks and Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus is one of the most harmful ticks for livestock. Most of the people in West Africa depend on cattle farming and subsistence agriculture. The presence of ticks on cattle is a major problem faced by smallholder farmers who fight for their livelihood. National and regional tick control programs could assist these rural communities in protecting their livelihoods against ticks and tick-borne diseases, but only if they take into account the targeted herders and their perception on cattle management and tick control. This paper aims to provide a better insight in the socio-economic characteristics of Beninese cattle farmers, and their perception on tick burden, as well as to document common tick control strategies. Different tick species and their seasonality are well understood by cattle herders. For tick control, many still use manual tick removal, especially in the north of the country. The high cost of acaricides, the lack of financial means of African farmers, and of the local stockbreeders in particular, limits the use of acaricides in livestock breeding in Benin. While aiming to increase the meat or milk production of their animals, stockbreeders who can afford it sometimes turn to an abusive use of acaricides, which might in time lead to an increase in tick resistance. This study remains one of the rare studies to report extensively on the perceptions of West African cattle herders.

First tick and tick damage perception survey among sedentary and transhumant pastoralists in Burkina Faso and Benin

“…This corroborates the findings in the study of Basset et al (Bassett & Turner, 2007). The majority of herders (78%) were from this social group as also demonstrated in other previous studies (Adehan et al, 2018;Alkoiret, 2009). The Fulani also known as Fulbe, constitutes one of the largest and most widely spread social groups in Sub-Saharan Africa.…”

“…(25%) are the ticks mainly responsible for injuries and teats lost. This is not different from previous results in the region (Adehan et al, 2018;Biguezoton et al, 2016;Farougou, 2007). On the contrary, Burkina Faso herders assert that Hyalomma spp.…”

“…(Biguezoton et al., 2016). However, ticks belonging to the genus Rhipicephalus ( Boophilus ), mainly one‐host tick species, are reported to be more present in the dry season, compared to rainy season (Adehan et al., 2018; Biguezoton et al., 2016). In fact, one‐host tick species adult stage is observed mainly during dry season in contrast to two‐or three‐host tick species for which dry season mainly correspond to nymph stage.…”

Tick Fauna and Associated Rickettsia, Theileria, and Babesia spp. in Domestic Animals in Sudan (North Kordofan and Kassala States)

“…Ticks and TBDs constitute a global economic and health burden. In countries with a socioeconomic status similar to that of Sudan, a substantial proportion of livestock are owned by subsistence farmers, who are especially vulnerable to the impact of ticks and TBDs [45]. Hassan and Salih [17] stated that the natural population of ticks infesting livestock is changing in Sudan.…”

Acaricide resistance in livestock ticks infesting cattle in Africa: Current status and potential mitigation strategies

“…This results in considerable direct damage to livestock. In these West African agro-ecosytems acaricide application is mainly implemented using portable manual sprayers or direct physical removal of ticks ( Adehan et al., 2018 ). An alternative delivery strategy that has been tested in Burkina Faso is the use of foot-baths, rather than spraying ( de Meneghie et al., 2016 ).…”