| dc.description.abstract | Livestock keeping is the mainstay for the pastoral
community while also providing social and cultural value.
This study ranked main production constraints and cattle
diseases that impacted livelihood and estimated herd prevalence,
incidence rate, and impact of diseases on production
parameters in a semiarid pastoral district of Narok in Kenya.
Data collection employed participatory techniques including
listing, pairwise ranking, disease incidence scoring, proportional
piling, and disease impact matrix scoring and this was
disaggregated by gender. Production constraints with high
scores for impact on livelihood included scarcity of water
(19 %), lack of extension services (15 %), presence of
diseases (12 %), lack of market for cattle and their products
(10 %), and recurrent cycle of drought (9 %). Diseases with
high scores for impact on livelihood were East Coast fever
(ECF) (22 %) and foot and mouth disease (FMD) (21 %).
High estimated incidence rates were reported for FMD
(67 %), trypanosomosis (28 %), and ECF (15 %), while
contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP) had an incidence
rate <1 %. Milk yield was affected by FMD, ECF, and
trypanosomosis, while ECF was the cause of increased
mortality. FMD, ECF, CBPP, and brucellosis caused increased
abortion, while effect of gender and location of
study was not significant. Despite CBPP being regarded as
an important disease affecting cattle production in subSahara
Africa, its estimated incidence rate in herds was
low. This study indicates what issues should be prioritized
by livestock policy for pastoral areas. | en |
