Participatory Epidemiology Of Cattle Diseases among the Fulani Pastoralists in Bacita Market, Edu Local Government Area, Kwara State, North-central Nigeria

The Fulani pastoralists are the custodians of 90% of the Nigerian cattle population and represent a significant component of the Nigerian economy. Participatory epidemiology involves the systematic use of participatory approaches and methods to improve the understanding of diseases and provide options for control. We used focus group meeting, disease impact scoring, seasonal calendar and triangulation as participatory epidemiology methods to identify the most important cattle diseases that Fulani pastoralists encounter in Kwara state, North-central Nigeria. Eight diseases/symptoms were collectively identified by the Fulani pastoralists during the focus group meeting and disease impact scoring exercise as most important affecting their cattle. These are: leptospirosis [Gabi-Gabi], FMD [Chabo], fasciolosis [Hanta], trypanosomiasis [Samore], haematuria [Taki], tick infestation [Duce], brucellosis [Kwanejie] and ear infection [Kune]; local names in parentheses. The seasonal calendar created by the pastoralists described variations in disease occurrence and rainfall pattern over four seasons of the year. When rainfall patterns were compared with the state annual rainfall pattern, there were obvious differences in the early rainy and early dry seasons. This could be because pastoralists recognize the seasons from the amount of rainfall, rather than the calendar date. Participatory epidemiology techniques were effective in gathering information from Nigerian Fulani Pastoralists that might inform control policy for livestock diseases.