Economic impact of foot and mouth disease outbreak on smallholder cattle farmers in Soroti, Eastern Uganda

Foot and mouth disease (FMD), caused by Aphthovirus of the Picornaviridae family, is a devastating highly contagious viral disease of cloven-hoofed animals. Because FMD is considered endemic in many parts of Uganda, recurrent outbreaks occur every year across livestock species. FMD is a controlled and reportable disease in Uganda and the country spends about USD 10 million annually for control. The aim of the study was to evaluate the economic cost of FMD outbreak on the livelihood of affected farmers in Soroti, Eastern Uganda. The impact of FMD was evaluated using data obtained during an outbreak that occurred between May and December 2014. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire administered to 150 cattle farmers in the study area. The findings showed that heifers had the lowest mortality of 1.8%; steers had a mortality of 3.6%, bulls 4.3% and cows 5.2%. The highest mortality was observed among calves at 37.8%. During this outbreak, the economic loss totaled to a mean of USD 323.01 per household. Mortality alone accounted for 45.65% of the total economic loss (x̄= USD 147.46) per household. Loss of draft power was x̄= USD 120.88. Cost of vaccination was x̄= USD 2.09, vaccines are however procured by government. Cost of treatment was x̄= USD 25.16 while cost milk yield loss was estimated at x̄= USD 10.76. Abortion losses were estimated to be x̄= USD 16.69 per household. In conclusion, FMD outbreak caused significant economic losses in the study area. The development of strategic FMD control interventions including regular vaccination was recommended to control these frequent FMD outbreaks.