Challenges of pastoral cattle production in a sub-humid zone of Nigeria.

PURPOSE: More than 80 % of the 20 million heads of Nigerian cattle are kept by pastoral households. As such, optimal herd management is important in maintaining human nutrition, livelihoods and socio-cultural balance. This study was conducted to contribute to discussions on emerging challenges of the Nigerian livestock sector and to estimate herd prevalence, relative incidence, case fatality and impact on livelihood of cattle diseases in pastoral areas.
METHODS: Participatory epidemiological approaches: listing; pairwise ranking; proportional piling; matrix scoring and probing were used to collect data through focus group interviews with Fulani herdsmen from selected pastoral areas of the country.
RESULTS: The main cattle production problems were as follows: conversion of land used for cattle routes into crop fields, cattle rustling and water scarcity with median scores for impact on livelihood being 19, 17 and 16%, respectively. Animal diseases were fourth in the list of problems, and diseases reported to have significant impacts on livelihood were trypanosomiasis (25%), contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (15%), foot and mouth disease (13%) and fascioliasis (13%). High relative incidence rates were reported for trypanosomiasis (27%), fascioliasis (24%) and foot and mouth disease (19%).
CONCLUSION: Change of land use and rustling indicate weaknesses in the producers' institutional environments. Water scarcity, limited access to veterinary services and substandard drugs supplied by vendors were identified as key factors contributing to persistence and frequent outbreaks of diseases. The paper revealed a greater importance of land constraints and rustling relative to disease and highlighted policy issues on management of natural resources and livestock development given challenges associated with pastoralism and insecurity in Nigeria.