Browsing by Author "Mayega, Lawrence"

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    African swine fever control and market integration in Ugandan peri-urban smallholder pig value chains: An ex-ante impact assessment of interventions and their interaction
    (Preventive Veterinary Medicine, 2018) Ouma, Emily; Dione, Michel; Birungi, Rosemirta; Lule, Peter; Mayega, Lawrence; Dizyee, Kanar
    Pig production in peri-urban smallholder value chains in Uganda is severely constrained by impact of disease, particularly African swine fever (ASF), and the economic consequences of an inefficient pig value chain. Interventions in the form of biosecurity to control ASF disease outbreaks and pig business hub models to better link smallholder farmers to pig markets have the potential to address the constraints. However, there is a dearth of evidence of the effects of the interventions on performance and distribution of outcomes along the pig value chain. An ex-ante impact assessment utilising System Dynamics model was used to assess the impact of the interventions in peri-urban pig value chains in Masaka district. The results showed that although implementation of biosecurity interventions results in reduction of ASF outbreaks, it also leads to a 6.3% reduction in farmer profit margins per year but more than 7% increase in other value chain actors’ margins. The pig business hub intervention alone results in positive margins for all value chain actors but minimal reduction in ASF outbreaks. When biosecurity and the pig business hub interventions are implemented together, the interaction effects of the interventions result in positive outcomes for both the control of ASF and improvement in farmers’ margins. Farmers may therefore be unwilling to adopt biosecurity practices if implemented alone to control ASF outbreaks unless there is a corresponding financial incentive to compensate for the high costs. This has implications for policy or developing institutions to facilitate cost sharing arrangement among chain actors and/or third party subsidy to provide incentives for producers to adopt biosecurity measures.
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    Enhancing biosecurity along Uganda’s pig value chains to control and prevent African swine fever
    (CGIAR, 2017) Dione, Michel; Nantima, Noelina; Mayega, Lawrence; Amia, Winfred; Wieland, Barbara; Ouma, Emily
    African swine fever (ASF) is an important health challenge facing the Ugandan pig sector, causing significant economic losses. While effective control and treatment of ASF are unavailable due to the absence of effective treatment or vaccination, its impact can be minimized through the adoption of biosecurity measures designed to prevent the entry and spread of the disease on farms. In collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries, local Government of Hoima, Kamuli, Lira, Mukono and Masaka districts, National Livestock Resources Research Institute, Makerere University, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) undertook detailed assessments of the pig value chain in Uganda to document critical areas for intervention and pilot tested practical biosecurity measures for controlling ASF along pig value chains. This brief highlights lessons learnt from these studies.
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    Guideline for participatory training on African swine fever control for smallholder pig farmers in Uganda
    (ILRI Manual, 2018) Dione, Michel M.; Ochago, Robert; Lule, Peter; Mayega, Lawrence
    African swine fever (ASF) is among the major production constraints for smallholder pig farmers in Uganda (Atuhaire et al. 2013; Dione et al. 2014). There is no vaccine or treatment for the disease. The only way to control the disease is proper application of biosecurity along the pig value chain. However, adoption and implementation of biosecurity measures is challenging in the context of the smallholder pig production, because of the nature of the production systems which is characterized by poor housing and husbandry practices; poor hygiene during slaughtering and pork handling; and low level of knowledge and awareness of value chain actors about the disease. Also there is lack of incentive and capacities of value chain actors for reporting outbreaks of ASF to authorities, as well as observing movement control during outbreak seasons (Dione et al. 2014). Hence, farmers operate ‘panic sales’ and slaughters to avoid financial losses attributed to the death of the pigs, with most farmers ignoring the implication of such practice in spreading the disease. Proper application of biosecurity measures require that farmers be well equipped with knowledge of their principles, when and how to apply them and why? To address this gap in knowledge, ILRI and partners developed a training guide for smallholder farmers on biosecurity and control of ASF. This guide will be delivered through participatory training. Here, the authors are describing the process for an effective training of farmers using participatory training methods, step by step.
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    A Longitudinal Survey of African Swine Fever in Uganda Reveals High Apparent Disease Incidence Rates in Domestic Pigs, But Absence of Detectable Persistent Virus Infections in Blood and Serum
    (BMC veterinary research, 2015) Muhangi, Denis; Masembe, Charles; Emanuelson, Ulf; Boqvist, Sofia; Mayega, Lawrence; Ademun, Rose Okurut; Bishop, Richard P; Ocaido, Michael; Berg, Mikael; Ståh, Karl
    African swine fever (ASF) is a fatal, haemorrhagic disease of domestic pigs, that poses a serious threat to pig farmers and is currently endemic in domestic pigs in most of sub-Saharan Africa. To obtain insight into the factors related to ASF outbreaks at the farm-level, a longitudinal study was performed in one of the major pig producing areas in central Uganda. Potential risk factors associated with outbreaks of ASF were investigated including the possible presence of apparently healthy ASF-virus (ASFV) infected pigs, which could act as long-term carriers of the virus. Blood and serum were sampled from 715 pigs (241 farms) and 649 pigs (233 farms) to investigate presence of ASFV and antibodies, during the periods of June-October 2010 and March-June 2011, respectively. To determine the potential contribution of different risks to ASF spread, a questionnaire-based survey was administered to farmers to assess the association between ASF outbreaks during the study period and the risk factors.Fifty-one (21 %) and 13 (5.6 %) farms reported an ASF outbreak on their farms in the previous one to two years and during the study period, respectively. The incidence rate for ASF prior to the study period was estimated at 14.1 per 100 pig farm-years and 5.6 per 100 pig farm-years during the study. Three pigs tested positive for ASFV using real-time PCR, but none tested positive for ASFV specific antibodies using two different commercial ELISA tests.There was no evidence for existence of pigs that were long-term carriers for the virus based on the analysis of blood and serum as there were no seropositive pigs and the only three ASFV DNA positive pigs were acutely infected and were linked to outbreaks reported by farmers during the study. Potential ASF risk factors were present on both small and medium-scale pig farms, although small scale farms exhibited a higher proportion with multiple potential risk factors (like borrowing boars for sows mating, buying replacement from neighboring farms without ascertaining health status, etc) and did not implement any biosecurity measures. However, no risk factors were significantly associated with ASF reports during the study.
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    Smallholder pig value-chain assessment in Uganda: Results from producer focus group discussions and key informant interviews
    (ILRI Project Report, 2015) Ouma, Emily; Dione, Michel; Lule, Peter; Pezo, Danilo; Marshall, Karen; Roesel, Kristina; Mayega, Lawrence; Kiryabwire, David; Nadiope, Gideon; Jagwe, John
    The CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish identified the smallholder pig value chain in Uganda as a highpotential target to translate research into major interventions that stimulate pro-poor transformation and generate benefits at scale. The program began by engaging with research and development partners, analysing the pig value chain and its policy environment as well as characterizing smallholder pig production and marketing practices in Uganda. These activities were done as part of a project entitled ‘Catalysing the emerging smallholder pig value chains in Uganda to increase rural incomes and assets’, which was funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the European Commission (EC).