https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1478-6919
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Abstract
Poor identification of Contagious caprine pleuropneumonia diseases from its signs and symptoms is a major problem to goat farmers which leads to use of wrong method of disease control. The uptake of control strategies like vaccination by farmers depends on many factors while awareness and knowledge become the foundation of the technology adoption processes. This therefore necessitated a study to understand the level of awareness and knowledge of Contagious caprine pleuropneumonia, which is a highly infectious goat disease. The study analysed and used cross-sectional data collected from 342 households interviewed in October, November, and December 2020 in Kajiado County and Taita Taveta County in Kenya. These two counties are dominated by agro pastoralists and goat keeping is predominant. The study examines the factors influencing the agro pastoralists’ knowledge and level of awareness on the six major signs and symptoms of Contagious Caprine Pleuropneumonia disease differentiating it from other goat diseases. Multivariate probit model was the main data analysis method used. Results show that agro pastoralists’ level of knowledge and awareness on Contagious Caprine Pleuropnemonia disease depend significantly on other factors such as the gender of household head, age, education level, household size, access to extension services, and group dynamics. The findings imply that policymakers and agricultural development partners should increase public and private investment on agro pastoralists’ training and education programmes which is one of the main pathways for increasing public awareness in livestock dominated areas.
PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT
Contagious Caprine Pleuropnemonia (CCPP) is a highly infectious disease with equally high mortality rate which has negative economic impact on goat farming in arid and semi-arid regions. The livelihood of the household in these regions greatly depends on livestock keeping especially goats which often are resilient to drought, occasioned by climate change. Farmers’ knowledge and awareness of the disease symptoms will ensure early detection and proper preventive measures which include vaccination, medication, and isolation of sick animals from the herd, which helps to contain and stop the spread of the disease hence healthy goats leading to improved food security, reduced poverty status and increased income of these farm households and cross-boundary communities as they share common routes, grazing fields, and watering points.
Acknowledgements
The authors highly acknowledge Kenya Climate Smart Agriculture Project (KCSAP) for funding the work. Authors also appreciate the technical support offered by Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) Director General, as well as Kenyatta University for providing a conducive environment during the period of writing the manuscript. The authors are grateful to Goat keepers in Kajiado and Taita Taveta Counties for providing information and equally grateful to Kajiado and Taita Taveta County Director of Veterinary Services for sharing the required information.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
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Notes on contributors
Fredrick Ochieng Ouya
Fredrick Ochieng Ouya is a researcher with esteemed competencies in coordinating surveys through designing, planning, executing and supervising data collection, data analysis, presentations, reporting and documentation using both quantitative and qualitative approaches. He was the research assistant in the project which covered Kajiado and Taita Taveta counties in Kenya. The project was implemented by Kenyatta University, KALRO, and KEVEVAPI. The second and the third authors are lecturers from Kenyatta University. The fourth author is a research scientist in KALRO. The fifth author is a senior scientist in KALRO and the project coordinator.