Presentation by Michel Dione at the Global consultation on African swine fever control, Rome, Italy, 12–14 December 2023.

1. Better lives through livestock
How the small-scale low biosecurity sector could be
transformed into a more biosecure sustained
system: The case of Uganda
Michel Dione
Senior scientist, Animal and Human Health program, International Livestock Research Institute
Global consultation on African swine fever control | Rome, Italy | 12–14 December 2023

2. 2
-
50,000
100,000
150,000
200,000
250,000
300,000
350,000
400,000
Milk, whole
fresh cow+
buffalo
Rice, paddy Meat
indigenous, pig
Maize Meat
indigenous,
chicken
Wheat Sugar cane Meat
indigenous,
cattle
Soybeans Eggs, hen, in
shell
Current million USD
(value for 2020)
Global commodity values 2020: animal source foods, five
of the top ten (value USD1.1 trillion)
Livestock is 40% of agGDP globally
15-80% in LMICs

3. 3
Demand for food
will keep growing
Projections based on IMPACT
model, Dolapo Enahoro (ILRI)
• Demand for pork fastest
in LMICs driven by
population, rising
incomes and urbanization
• Most consumed in LMICs
are sourced in
smallholder livestock
systems
0.00
40.00
80.00
120.00
160.00
200.00
Beef
0.00
40.00
80.00
120.00
160.00
200.00
Pork
0.00
40.00
80.00
120.00
160.00
200.00
Cereals
0.00
40.00
80.00
120.00
160.00
200.00
Poultry
0.00
40.00
80.00
120.00
160.00
200.00
Milk
0.00
40.00
80.00
120.00
160.00
200.00
Fruits & Vegetables
Percentage changes in
demand 2010 to 2030
Especially in LMICs

4. 4
The role of pigs in smallholder systems
“Living bank” - livelihoods
Source of supply of energy, protein, and
important micronutrients
Great attributes and opportunities: highly
cherished for their fast growth rates, highly
prolific and have ready market regardless of
production site, relatively cheap meat and
delicacy dish by urban consumers
Cultural identity, and social services
Employment and rural economies

5. 5
Impacts of ASF
According to WOAH,
ASF is responsible for massive losses in pig populations and drastic
economic consequences, African swine fever (ASF) has become a major
crisis for the pork industry in recent years.
Currently affecting several regions around the world, the disease is not
only impeding animal health and welfare but has also detrimental
impacts on biodiversity and the livelihoods of farmers.

6. 6
Characteristics of smallholder pig systems
Traditional small-scale system is
characterized by high mortality rate, low
off take, absence or minimal health care,
supplementary feeding and proper
housing.
Pigs have been raised under various
husbandry practices including free range
feeding, tethering, and confinement

7. 7
Interconnected value chain actors

8. 8
Barriers to implementation of biosecurity practices in
Uganda
Biosecurity practice Barrier from the farmer
Footbath at entrance of farm Financial investment, labour
Restriction of farm entry and exit
Community stigma, fear of loosing costumer (traders), no mean of estimating pig
weight
Control of birds and rodent Financial investment, some community members consumed these animals
Isolation of new stock Investment in housing, limited space for extra house
Processing of swill feed Competition for resources (firewood), labour
Disposal of dead pigs
Labor, access to land, some communities consume the dead pigs, investment in
fuel, safety issues (bush fire), pollution
Tool sharing Financial investment, social cohesion
Disinfection
Financial investment, sociocultural barriers (fear that it may stop people from
visiting them)
Communal boar sharing
Financial investment, social cohesion, capacity to monitor health, perceptions ( (for
those with children, they fear would make them learn bad manners when they see
a boar mounting a sow)
Construction of fences/pig
structures/housing Financial investment, labor, lack knowledge on pig housing
Keeping away animals from the farm
such as dogs and other pigs Difficult to achieve when ither animals are scavenging
Disease reporting
Access to vet, capacity to make a call, fear of loosing investment (no
compensation), slow or no actions taken by authorities when informed about
suspected outbreaks
Outbreak investigation Financial cost
Financial
Social,
Capacity,
knowledge
Land and
environment
Results from FGDs made of men (n=50) and women (n=50) with in Masaka, Uganda

9. 9
Reasons why farmers not reporting disease outbreak and
not complying to animal movement control (n=960)
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Lack of knowledge about onset of outbreak
Jealousy
Fear of losing customers/buyers
Negligence
Fear of losing animals following culling
Lack of time to report
No action taken by authorities
High treatment cost
Don't know where to report
Lack of money
Disease has no cure
Limited access to vet. authorities
High financial cost of communication
Fear of quarantine/movt control
Other reasons
Outbreak reporting (%)
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Fear of lossing business
Lack of knowledge about onset of outbreak
Protect source of income
Jealousy
Lack of money
Negligence
Others don't comply
Don't care
Lack of feeds, housing
Expensive movement permit
No action taken by authorities
Ignorance of law/regulations
Movement control not properly implemented
Corrupted authorities
Other reasons
Compliance to animal movement control (%)

10. 10
Lessons learnt from ongoing and past interventions
What have we done?
• Education and Behavioural Change Communication
packages (Participatory training, Model farms)
• Capacity building of vet services (vet champions
• Improvement of feed and feeding systems
• Improvement of access to inputs and services
Financial, human
resources
Social, Capacity,
knowledge
Land and
environment
All these interventions have been implemented singly and
then integrated with market systems as an incentive

11. 11
Lessons learnt from ongoing and past interventions
Education and Behavioural Change Communication package through
participatory training
• Participatory training improved farmer's
knowledge and capacities to apply
biosecurity to some extent (960 farmers
involved in the study)
• Reduced ASF outbreaks, mitigated crucial
perceptions towards ASF
• control
• Farmers are willing to take preventive action
as they have observed the positive outcomes.
• But lack of capacity to do so for many farmers

12. 12
Lessons learnt from ongoing and past interventions
Education and Behavioural Change Communication package through
digital approach
• Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology was successful
to transfer biosecurity messages to pig farmers (408 farmers
involved)
• IVR is time efficient, has high potential for resource saving
and flexibility and gender sensitive

13. 13
Lessons learnt from ongoing and past interventions
• Farmers are selected from groups/cooperatives in districts
of Mukono and Wakiso of Uganda to host learning centers
• Farmer-to-farmer visits and training in skills and practices of
farming pigs in healthy, bio secure and good animal welfare
aspects
• Farmers demand advise on bio secure sensitive housing –
vet champion advice on new housing or rehabilitation of
existing housing based on basic principles of biosecurity
Education and Behavioural Change
Communication package through model
farms as farmer learning centers

14. 14
Lessons learnt from ongoing and past interventions
Capacity building of veterinary services - Vet champions
• One veterinarian (vet champion) from
each the 5 districts local government
was nominated by the district
veterinary officer following specific
criteria.
• The vet champions received two
weeks of intensive training at Swedish
University of Agricultural Sciences
(SLU), Uppsala, Sweden.
• Provide support, training, and
mentorship to fellow veterinarians in
applying herd health principles at the
farm level

15. 15
Lessons learnt from ongoing and past interventions
Safe, sustainable feed and fodder
systems (an increase of 1°C in the global mean temperature is
predicted to reduce global yields of wheat by 6.0% and of maize by
7.4%); is expected to lead to additional price increases for the most
important agricultural crops
Evaluated on-station forages and on-farm forages that are
suitable for feeding pigs (low fiber, high protein)
Potential of sweetpotato
based silage to alleviation of
dry season feed shortages
smallholder farms
Business opportunities
around small-scale silage
making

16. 16
Lessons learnt from ongoing and past interventions
Scenario
Pig value chain actors
Producers Butchers Traders Collectors Wholesalers
ASF biosecurity Vs baseline -6.2 8.1 10.3 8.6 8
Pig business hub Vs baseline 11.3 5.3 8.8 7.3 4
Combined ASF biosecurity and pig business
hub
6.5 13.1 21.2 17.4 10.4
Equitable and inclusive market systems to incentive biosecurity
• Benefits accrue for both ASF control and farmers margins when biosecurity
and business hub interventions are implemented together
Average annual % change of value chain actors' cumulative profit relative to baseline

17. 17
Lessons learnt from ongoing and past interventions
Advocacy and policy
The challenges
• Low prioritization of the sector by
the government despite growing
pork demand and value chain
constraints such as African Swine
Fever (ASF)
• Lack of capacity and voice of pig
value chain actors and
stakeholders to
influence/contribute to policies
that impact the sector.
The outcomes
• The national MSP undertook to lobby the government of
Uganda to incorporate a clause on acceptable standards of
commercial pig feeds into a revised national feed policy.
• A clause to modify the policy on transport of pigs
• Masaka municipality has offered land to the pig cooperative
union for the construction of a centralized pig abattoir.
The intervention

18. 18
Lessons learnt from ongoing and past interventions
• Market pull by having pig aggregators (pig buyers) support pig farmers/pig
farmer groups through market agreements utilizing a market systems
development approach. This incentivizes farmer uptake of technologies
and best practices due to the market pull.
• The technologies and best practices are “pushed” to the pig farmers
through the PigSmart platform – that integrates extension advisory in herd
health practices including biosecurity, appropriate feeding, improved
genetics, waste management and heat stress management
An integrated package – MorePork II

19. 19
Lessons learnt from ongoing and past interventions
• Building on learning
from MorePork I
• Entry point – market
– strong business case
(Market Systems
approach)
• Private sector
partnerships
• PigSMART platform –
digital extension
based on stage of
growth of the pig
(Feeds x Herd health –
including biosecurity
practices x Genetics)
and environment add-
on
PigSmart integrates genetics, health, feed and forages, environment, and market knowledge into
credible, evidence-based information relevant to each smallholder farmer.
An integrated package – MorePork II

20. 20
Lessons learnt from ongoing and past interventions
• The model has been tested with 70 pig aggregators and about 680
pig farmers
• Outcomes:
– Improved farmer knowledge in appropriate pig husbandry practices
including biosecurity and technologies
– Better market linkages with input and service providers through the MSP
– Improved pig incomes for both pig aggregators and farmers (more
investment in biosecurity, less outbreaks, more sales)
An integrated package – MorePork II

21. 21
Framework for sustainable biosecurity in smallholder
farming systems
Inclusive Behavioral
Change Communication
package
Equitable and inclusive
value chains
Safe, sustainable feed
and fodder systems
One Biosecurity - Integrated
biosecurity protocols
Strong veterinary services (diagnosis, surveillance, reporting)
and policies
Public
Private
Partnership
Value chain actor’s centric – co-construction – knowledge of
local context

22. 22

23. 23
Acknowledgments
Emily Ouma (ILRI Uganda)
Peter Oba (ILRI, Uganda)
Emmanual Hasahya (ILRI, Uganda)
Ben Lukuyu (ILRI, Uganda)
Zachary Nsadha (Makerere University, Uganda)

24. THANK YOU