Abstract:
The Livestock sector plays a vital role in the economies of many developing countries. It provides food, income, employment and possibly foreign exchange. Consumption and trade of livestock and livestock products in developing countries is rapidly growing however, animal diseases have a permanent threat to livestock keepersand major economic implications both through public and private costs of outbreaks. An example of such diseases is transboundary animal diseases (TADs). One of the significant TADs in Tanzania, foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), isendemic and a major threat to livestock production. The disease impacts and incentives for its control are likely to vary across stakeholders affected by this disease, but these aspects have been poorly characterized in Tanzania. To address these gaps this study investigated political, economic and social drivers of FMD control in Tanzania across different sectors so as to provide the evidence which would support decision making in the control of the disease. The study used collection and analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data. It revealed that FMD caused a standardized milk loss of 2.67 litres per cow per day withan average price of milk per liter per day estimated at Tsh868.75.Therefore, direct losses due to reduced milk yield were estimated at Tsh2319 and an average indirect loss due to control cost was estimated at Tsh2344 per animal per day. The study further identified vaccination as the most important prevention strategy, however, there is need to predict the pattern in which local circulating virus strains occur and develop vaccines relevant to these circulating strains.Identified priority areas of action include better communication mechanisms for better dialogue amongst stakeholders concerned with FMD control and involvement of livestock keepers in national dialogue. Overall,traditional farmers expressed a keen interest in continuing to be involved in research effortswith researchers to develop joint agendas for FMD control. In Tanzania, there is currently still some debate amongst national stakeholders as to whether FMD should be considered a private or public goo
