Knowledge and perception of livestock farmers on East coast fever in Agwingiri sub-county-Amolatar district.

Abstract

The main objective of the study was to assess the knowledge and perception of livcstock farmers on East Coast Fever in Agwingiri Subcounty. This was conducted between February and July 2018, through individual interviews and group discussions. Multistage probability sampling technique was used to randomly select seventy-two (72) respondents. Fanners identified various tick. species though not aware that these ticks carry pathogens that transmit diseases to cattle, ECF was only a disease of importance to calves and once the animals were beyond nine months the risk for being infected was greatly reduced. This resistance was supported by evidence provided by some respondents that there isusuailyno need to use vetetinary drugs to treat calves when infected as they could recover without ueatntent. The general perception or livestock farmers in Agwingiri was that their local are resistant to ECF ngrazing areas were the major Source of ticks.