Incidence and impacts of clinical mastitis in dairy cattle farms: case of Maharastra farmers

A cross sectional farm sample survey was conducted to assess the consequences of mastitis on farmer’s economy. Daily milk records of 187 animals from 28 farms were investigated by personal interview methods. Extra-resources used for the treatment and reduced revenues in terms of production were quantified and aggregated. The overall loss of mastitis from dairy animals was recorded Rs.1390.46 per lactation, in which 48.53 percent was from milk loss followed by veterinary expenses (36.57%), and additional cost of labour. Greater loss in crossbred due to its high production yield affected during the mastitis period. The cost of treating an animal is Rs. 508.52, includes cost of medicine (31.10 %) and services (5.47%). In farmer’s perception, inadequate sanitation, hygiene and veterinary services were the major factors responsible for occurrence of the disease. Therefore effective extension strategy suggested to make farmer aware to reduce incidence and improving profit margin of the farmer

The Economic Impact of Eradicating Peste des Petits Ruminants:A Benefit-Cost Analysis

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is an important cause of mortality and production loss among sheep and goats in the developing world. Despite control efforts in a number of countries, it has continued to spread across Africa and Asia, placing an increasing burden on the livelihoods of livestock keepers and on veterinary resources in affected countries. Given the similarities between PPR and rinderpest, and the lessons learned from the successful global eradication of rinderpest, the eradication of PPR seems appealing, both eliminating an important disease and improving the livelihoods of the poor in developing countries. We conducted a benefit-cost analysis to examine the conomic returns from a proposed programme for the global eradication of PPR. Based on our knowledge and experience, we developed the eradication strategy and estimated its costs. The benefits of the programme were determined from (i) the averted mortality costs, based on an analysis of the literature, (ii) the downstream impact of reduced mortality using a social accounting matrix, and (iii) the avoided control costs based on current levels of vaccination. The results of the benefit-cost analysis suggest strong economic returns from PPR eradication. Based on a 15-year programme with total discounted costs of US$2.26 billion, we estimate discounted benefits of US$76.5 billion, yielding a net benefit of US$74.2 billion. This suggests a benefit cost ratio of 33.8, and an internal rate of return (IRR) of 199%. As PPR mortality rates are highly variable in different populations, we conducted a sensitivity analysis based on lower and higher mortality scenarios. All the scenarios examined indicate that investment in PPR eradication would be highly beneficial economically. Furthermore, removing one of the major constraints to small ruminant production would be of considerable benefit to many of the most vulnerable communities in Africa and Asia