Preventive Veterinary Medicine publishes paper on participatory epidemiology study among Turkana pastoralists

The 01 August 2009 edition of the journal Preventive Veterinary Medicine features a paper on a participatory epidemiology study carried out to determine the relative incidence of livestock diseases and their impact on the livelihoods of pastoralists in Turkana South District, Kenya.

The paper was written by Bernard Bett, Christine Jost and Jeffrey Mariner of ILRI’s Markets theme, and Robert Allport of Vétérinaires Sans Frontières Belgium.

According to the study findings, interventions aimed at improving the productivity of goats and controlling diseases like mange, peste des petits ruminants and contagious caprine pleuropneumonia are likely to have a positive impact on the livelihoods of pastoralists in Turkana South district.

Nomadic pastoralism, limited access to veterinary services and livestock theft were identified as unique challenges that tend to frustrate effective disease control interventions. “These challenges need to be addressed in development and disease control interventions,” the authors conclude.

Citation
Bett B, Jost C, Allport R and Mariner J. 2009. Using participatory epidemiology techniques to estimate the relative incidence and impact on livelihoods of livestock diseases amongst nomadic pastoralists in Turkana South District, Kenya. Preventive Veterinary Medicine 90:194-203.

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ILRI paper wins top award at IAMA World Annual Symposium

An ILRI research paper on commodity-based beef exports from Ethiopia won the Best Paper Award at this year’s World Annual Forum and Symposium of the International Agribusiness Management Association (IAMA) held at Budapest, Hungary from 20-23 June 2009.

The paper, titled Commodity-based trade and market access for developing country livestock producers: the case of beef exports from Ethiopia, came out tops in a field of 29 papers that were up for the award. Over 350 people attended the symposium whose theme, in relation to food and agribusiness, was Global challenges and local solutions.

The paper was written by Karl Rich of ILRI and the American University in Cairo, and two former ILRI (and Markets theme) staff: Brian Perry of the University of Oxford and Simeon Kaitibie of the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), Syria.

The paper examines the economic feasibility of a proposed two-phase SPS (sanitary and phytosanitary) certification for beef exports as a means of enhancing Ethiopian livestock exports.

“Given the nature of competition in international beef markets, Ethiopia will likely be forced to compete on quality, exporting a diversity of cuts on the basis of demand and competitiveness in different regions, and in differentiating its product relative to competitors over and beyond higher disease-free and food safety standards,” the paper concludes.

Download the paper here (PDF)