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Topic: |
Active Participation of the farmer community in the Livestock Disease Surveillance Program in District Sahiwal Punjab (Pakistan) |
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Project name: |
Support for Emergency Prevention and Control of Main Transboundary Animal Diseases in Pakistan (Rinderpest, FMD and PPR)
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| Project number: |
GCP/PAK/088/EC |
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| Author of these Lessons Learned: |
Dr. Muhammad Rasheed, PDS expert L&DD
House # 235/W
Scheme # 3 Sahiwal Punjab , Pakistan
E-Mail: vetdr@swl.paknet.com.pk |
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Online references :
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http://www.fao.org/ag/AGA/AGAH/EMPRES/news/afghan.htm
http://www.fao.org/documents/show_cdr.asp?url_file=//DOCREP/003/X8833E/X8833E00.HTM
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| FAO Resource Persons:
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Peter Roeder, AGAH;
Jorque Sequeira, FAPAK |
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| FAO Division:
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AGAH |
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| Applied Participatory Approaches:
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- Discussion groups
- identification of livestock diseases through pictures, cartoons and diagrams
- Participatory Epidemiology
- Proportional Piling
- Village/area Mapping
- Seasonal Calendar
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Abstract:
Participatory Disease Surveillance activities are under way in Pakistan by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock Islamabad Pakistan with the coordination of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and funding from the European Union. The regular activities on disease surveillance are aimed at locating, controlling and eradicating Transboundary Animal Diseases from Pakistan which will ultimately lead towards a Rinderpest-free Pakistan . Experts on Participatory Disease Surveillance techniques are working in targeted villages of allocated districts to carry out different disease search activities. The Participatory Disease Surveillance Team (B) visited the targeted villages of Sahiwal District in June, 2004 and visited 57 villages which were randomly selected by the Data Analyst of Livestock and Dairy Development Department in Punjab . In these villages, 57 farmer meetings were conducted with the participation of 1102 farmers. Moreover, 27 Key Informants were interviewed separately to trace out the actual status of different contagious livestock diseases in the Sahiwal District. While contacting the field veterinary staff of the District, 10 veterinary institutions were visited and 34 officials of field veterinary staff were briefed about the importance of the livestock disease reporting system. Dr. Jeffrey Mariner has conducted all the training during the last 3 years and has published, in collaboration with Peter Roeder (FAO), several articles on PDS in Pakistan .
Brief description of the Sahiwal District:
The district was established in 1849 with the name of MONTGOMERY . The district was renamed as SAHIWAL on November 14, 1966 . It is situated between river Ravi and Sutluj. It comprises on 2 Tehsils, 89 Union Councils and 529 Villages. The district is well known for its Sahiwal cow and Nili Ravi Buffalo breed and for their best production characteristics.
Animal Census:
S/No |
Name of Species |
No |
1. |
Cattle |
185556 |
2. |
Buffalo |
510383 |
3. |
Sheep and Goat |
610013 |
4. |
Horses and Mules |
83613 |
5. |
Camels |
1047 |
6. |
Poultry |
509876 |
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Total |
1900488 |
Introduction:
In the 1950s and 1960s an important approach to rural development was introduced, i.e. community development (Andey Catley Participatory Approach for Participatory Epidemiology 1999). At that time, community development was linked to government policy. According to Andey Catley, concepts of participation began to feature more prominently in overseas development in the 1970s. While working on the project related to communities, different words like Popular Participation, People Participation, Primary Participation, Rural Participation, Active Participation were in use since 1995. Since the emergence of the Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA) and the Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) there has been a noticeable increase in the use of these methods by development and research bodies in both developing and industrialized nations; the term Community Participation soon became a common word worldwide.
1. Participation can be defined as a voluntary process by which people influence or control the decisions that affect them by contributing their knowledge, resources and skills.
2. Participatory approaches lead the way we interact with the people and these approaches of interaction create / establish a relationship of trust between the worker and the target group of people. While working with Participatory approaches, the actual issues / data or information could be derived from the people/target group.
3. Participatory Epidemiology is a Participatory approach to locate, control and eradicate any disease from a particular area. In the Participatory approach, the worker/researcher should be aware of the attitude / behaviour of the target group. The attitude / behaviour of the target group or community makes the research/surveillance more useful and valuable, so the active community participation is the main key for Participatory Epidemiology or Disease Surveillance to be successful.
All the animals’ diseases have the potential to adversely affect human populations and the economy of a country. Transboundary animal diseases have the most serious consequences. These Transboundary animal diseases are causing serious socioeconomic losses and possible health hazards. These diseases, namely Foot and Mouth, PPR and Rinderpestcan cause high morbidity and mortality rates in susceptible animal populations and constitute a constant threat to the livelihood of livestock farmers. Furthermore, losses due to these diseases are of such a magnitude that the occurrence may also have a significant detrimental effect on the national economy.
Methodology adopted:
Time and Place:
The working or daily routine of the farmer community is based on crop patterns and seasons. In the Sahiwal District, in order to involve the farmer community in the Livestock Disease Search Program, the time and place were the most important factors. The Participatory Disease Surveillance Team visited the villages at different times and observed that the afternoon and evening were the best times to get maximum and positive participation from the farmer community. In every village the place for the meetings was normally a common place like the village centre, the mosque, the School ground, Dera of Numberdar or breeder.
As a first step to get active community participation, the discussion on common felt needs of members of the community was started by asking open ended questions regarding their animal health problems. In this way a situation of confidence was created to get valuable data/information from the farmers. Positive disease surveillance is based on farmer knowledge and the ways to get out of by applying different exercises and tools.
Pictures, diagrams:
The minds of the farmers are the source of traditional veterinary knowledge such as symptoms, severity and treatment of different Livestock Diseases, especially the contagious diseases which have greater economical effects on their livelihoods. The pictures, cartoons and diagrams showing the symptoms of different livestock diseases were used to confirm the disease under discussion.
Discussion, brain storming:
The severity and treatments of different diseases are the main topic for discussion in the farmer meetings. The open discussion gives the confidence for every participant to contribute his indigenous knowledge regarding the subject/topic. The open discussion and brainstorming yield the actual information and data required by the searcher/PDS team. The Participatory Disease search program is based on the farmer’s thinking and knowledge, so different Participatory Epidemiological tools such as Proportional Piling, Village/area Mapping and Seasonal Calendars were also exercised to get the active participation of the farmer community.
Status of Livestock Diseases in Sahiwal District:
The active and positive farmer community participation was achieved by applying different PE tools. The livestock keepers of the district are well aware of the impact of different livestock diseases on their livelihood. The open discussion and exercise of Proportional Piling for the prevalence and importance of different livestock diseases cleared the situation of livestock diseases in the Sahiwal District.
Results:
- Finding the right place and time for the farmers meeting is the basic step to get the current status of information/data required by the searcher or PDS Team. The most feasible place for every farmer is the common chowk near the main mosque of the village or his animal shed in afternoon or evening time.
- The active participation of the farmer community in the exercises of Participatory Disease Surveillance program in the Sahiwal District confirms that the tools of Participatory Epidemiology are quite helpful to evaluate the disease situation in the village/area. The interest of the farmers/participants was very much appreciable while applying the mapping, seasonal calendar and proportional piling exercises.
- The active participation of the farmer community in a meeting is more effective and valuable if the gathering is made up of less than 15-20 farmers representing all the groups of the village/area.
- The management and feeding aspects are being ignored by the farmers, causing metabolic disorders in their livestock, such as Haemoglobin urea, Mastitis and prolapsed uterus.
- The livestock holders/ farmers of the Sahiwal District are well aware of the severity of Hemorrhagic Septicaemia and they are vaccinating their Buffalo and cattle against HS but not on a regular basis.
- The Foot and Mouth disease was prevailing in the area/villages 3 months back but the farmers have no fear about the disease as it is not causing mortality in the livestock.
- The name of Rinderpest Disease is new to the farmers, but the symptoms described by the farmers and the PDS Team, especially Diarrhoea, lead to think about the PPR in sheep and Johnes disease in buffalos and cattle.
- While discussing the treatment services, it was observed that these services are being provided by the different categories of practitioners, such as qualified staff like veterinary doctors, veterinary assistants, A.I. technicians, veterinary village workers and non-qualified staff like school teachers, the milk man, livestock traders, the village elderly, peers and the Siaana of village/area.
- The different categories of veterinary practitioners are treating the sick animals on symptomatic findings rather than the actual diagnosis.
- The provision of necessary chemicals and instruments at every veterinary hospital and dispensary for the laboratory diagnosis of disease would be helpful for early recovery of sick animals.
- The active and positive participation of 1102 farmers in 57 meetings held in the Sahiwal District for the Livestock Disease Search program gave as a result that the livestock production extension program is a key for the farmer to develop his economy as well as the National Economy at large.
