Risk factors associated with occurrence of African swine fever outbreaks in smallholder pig farms in four districts along the Uganda-Kenya border
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Date
2015
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Tropical animal health and production
Abstract
A cross-sectional survey was carried out to assess
risk factors associated with occurrence of African swine fever
(ASF) outbreaks in smallholder pig farms in four districts
along Kenya-Uganda border. Information was collected by
administering questionnaires to 642 randomly selected pig
households in the study area. The study showed that the major
risk factors that influenced ASF occurrence were purchase of
pigs in the previous year (p<0.000) and feeding of pigs with
swill (p<0.024). By employing cluster analysis, three clusters
of pig production types were identified based on production
characteristics that were found to differ significantly between
districts. The most vulnerable cluster to ASF was households
with the highest reported number of ASF outbreaks and composed
of those that practiced free range at least some of the
time. The majority of the households in this cluster were from
Busia district in Uganda. On the other hand, the least vulnerable
cluster to ASF composed of households that had the least
number of pig purchases, minimal swill feeding, and less
treatment for internal and external parasites. The largest
proportion of households in this cluster was from Busia district
Kenya. The study recommended the need to sensitize
farmers to adopt proper biosecurity practices such as total
confinement of pigs, treatment of swill, isolation of newly
purchased pigs for at least 2 weeks, and provision of incentives
for farmers to report suspected outbreaks to authorities
and rapid confirmation of outbreaks.
Description
Keywords
African swine fever, Smallholder systems, Pigs, Uganda, Kenya
Citation
Nantima, N., Ocaido, M., Ouma, E., Davies, J., Dione, M., Okoth, E., ... & Bishop, R. (2015). Risk factors associated with occurrence of African swine fever outbreaks in smallholder pig farms in four districts along the Uganda-Kenya border. Tropical animal health and production, 47(3), 589-595. DOI 10.1007/s11250-015-0768-9