Valuable data as a result of active Participation of farmer’s

community to Livestock Disease Surveillance Program in

District Sahiwal Punjab (Pakistan)
Dr Muhammad Rasheed
PDS expert L&DD
Punjab
Abstract:
The Participatory Disease Surveillance activities are under way in
Pakistan by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock Islamabad
Pakistan with the coordination of Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO) of United Nation and European Union. The regular activities on
disease surveillance is aimed to locate, control and eradicate the
Transboundry Animal Diseases from Pakistan which ultimately leads to
wards the destination / target of Rinderpest free Pakistan. The experts
on Participatory Disease Surveillance techniques are working in the
targeted villages of allocated districts to carry out different disease
search activities. Participatory Disease Surveillance Team (B) visited
the targeted villages of District Sahiwal in June, 2004 and visited 57
villages which were randomly selected by the Data Analyst of Livestock
and Dairy Development Department Punjab. In these villages 57
farmers meetings were conducted and 1102 farmers participated in
these meetings. More over 27 Key Informants were interviewed
separately to trace out the actual status of different contagious
livestock diseases in the District Sahiwal. While contacting the field
veterinary staff of the District, 10 veterinary institutions were visited
and 34 officials of field veterinary staff were briefed about the
importance of livestock disease reporting system.
Brief of the District Sahiwal:
The district was established in 1849 having name as MONTGOMERY.
The district was renamed as SAHIWAL on November 14, 1966. It is
situated between river Ravi and Sutluj. It comprises on 2 Tehsils, 89
Union Councils and 529 Villages. The district is well known for its
Sahiwal cow and Nili Ravi Buffalo breed for best production
characteristics.
Animal Census:
S/No Name of Species No
1. Cattle 185556
2. Buffalo 510383
3. Sheep and Goat 610013
4. Horses and Mules 83613
5. Camels 1047
6. Poultry 509876
Total 1900488
Introduction:
In the 1950s and 1960s an important approach to rural development
was introduced i.e. community development (Andey Catley
Participatory approach for Participatory Epidemiology 1999). At that
time, community development was linked to government policy.
According to the Andey Catley concepts of participation began to
feature more prominently in overseas development in the 1970s. While
working on the project related to communities different words like
Popular Participation, People Participation, Primary Participation, Rural
Participation, Active Participation were in use since 1995. Since the
emergence of Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA) and Participatory Rural
Appraisal (PRA) there has been a noticeable increase in the use of
these methods by development and research bodies in both developing
and industrialized nations, the term Community Participation soon
became common word world wide.
1. Participation can be defined as a voluntary process by which
people influence or control the decisions that affect them selves’ by
contributing their knowledge, resources and skills.
2. Participatory approach leads the way we interact with the
peoples and this approach of interaction begin and create / establish a
relation ship / trust between the worker and the target group of
people. While working with Participatory approach, the actual issues /
data or information’s could be derived from the people/target group.
3. Participatory Epidemiology is also a wing of Participatory
approach to locate, control and eradicates any disease from the
particular area. In the Participatory approach the worker/researcher
should be aware of attitude / behavior of the target group. The
attitude / behavior of the target group or community make the
research/surveillance more useful and valuable, so the active
community participation is the main key for success full Participatory
Epidemiology or Disease Surveillance.
All the animals’ diseases have the potential to adversely effect human
population and economy of the country. The Transboundry animal
diseases have the most serious consequences. These Transboundry
animal diseases are causing serious socio economic losses and possible
health hazards. These diseases namely Foot and Mouth, PPR and
Rinderpest can cause highly morbidity and mortality rates in
susceptible animal population and constitute a constant threat to the
livelihood of livestock farmers. Further more, losses due to the theses
diseases are of such a magnitude that the occurrence may also have a
significant detrimental effect on national economics. In Pakistan
eradication will be achieved by a process of skillful epidemiological
investigation having the Participatory Disease Search Program.
Methodology adopted:
Time and Place:
The working or daily routine of the farmers community is based on
crop pattern and season. In District Sahiwal to involve the farmer’s
community in Livestock Disease Search Program, the time and place
was the most important factor. The Participatory Disease Surveillance
Team visited the villages in different time and observed that the
afternoon and evening was the best time to get maximum and positive
participation form the farmer’s community in the village. In every
village the place for the meetings was normally the common place like
“middle of the village, under the mosque, School ground, Dera of
Numberdar or breeder.
As a first step to get active community participation, the discussion on
common felt needs of members of community was started by asking
open ended questions regarding their animal health problems. With
this a situation of confidence was created to get valuable
data/information from the intelligent minds of the farmers. The
positive disease surveillance is based on the knowledge of farmer
which he has in the mind and the ways to get out of by applying
different exercises and tools.
Pictures, diagrams:
The minds of the farmers are the source of
traditional veterinary knowledge such as
symptoms, severity and treatment of
different Livestock Diseases especially the
contagious diseases which have greater
economical effects on their livelihood. The
pictures, cartoons and diagrams showing the
symptoms of different livestock diseases were
used to confirm the disease under discussion.
Discussion, brain storming:
The severity and treatments of different diseases are the main topic
for discussion in the farmers meetings. The open discussion gives the
confidence for every participant to contribute his indigenous
knowledge regarding the subject/topic. The open discussion and brain
storming yields the actual information and data required by the
searcher/PDS team. The Participatory Disease search program is based
on the thinking and knowledge of farmer, so different Participatory
Epidemiological tools such as Proportional Pilling, Village/area Mapping
and Making Seasonal Calendar were also exercised to get the active
participation from the farmer’s community.

Status of Livestock Diseases in District Sahiwal:

The active and positive farmer’s community participation was achieved
by applying the different PE tools. The livestock keepers of the district
are well aware about the impact of different livestock diseases on their
livelihood. The open discussion and exercise of Proportional Pilling for
the prevalence and importance of different livestock diseases cleared
the situation of livestock diseases in District Sahiwal.

Livestock Diseases (prevelence wise) Livestock Diseases (Importance wise)

R/Fever R/Fever
Ticks Ticks
PPHU PPHU
HS HS
FMD FMD

0 5 10 15 20 25 0 10 20 30 40

Results:
The place and time for the farmers meeting is the basic
step to get the actual status of information/data required
by the searcher or PDS Team. The most feasible place for
every farmer is the common chowk near the main mosque
of the village or his animal shed in afternoon or evening
time.
The active farmer’s community participation in the
exercises of Participatory Disease Surveillance program in
District Sahiwal confirms that the tools of Participatory
Epidemiology are quite helpful to evaluate the disease
situation in the village/area. The interest of the
farmers/participants was very much appreciable while
applying the exercise of mapping, seasonal calendar and
proportional pilling.
The active farmers community participation farmers in one
meeting is more effective and valuable for having
discussion on every aspects if gathering is under 15-20
farmers representing all the groups of village/area.
The management and feeding aspects are being ignored by
the farmers causing metabolic disorders in their livestock,
such as Hemoglobin urea, Mastitis and prolapsed uterus
are main concern for the farmers.
 The livestock holders/ farmers community of District
Sahiwal are well aware about the severity of Hemorrhagic
Septicemia and they are vaccinating their Buffalo and
cattle against HS but not on regular basis.
The Foot and Mouth disease was prevailing in the
area/villages 3 months back but the farmers have no fear
about the disease as the disease is not causing mortality in
the livestock.
The name of Rinderpest Disease is new for the farmers of
area/villages, but the symptoms especially Diarrhea
described by farmers and the PDS Team lead to think
about the PPR in sheep and Johnes disease in buffalos and
cattle.
While discussion of the treatment services, it was observed
that the treatment services are being provided by the
different categories of practitioners such as qualified staff
like veterinary doctors, veterinary assistants, A.I
technicians, veterinary village workers and non qualified
staff like school teachers, milk man, livestock traders,
elder of the village, peer and Siaana of village/area.
The different categories of veterinary practitioners are
treating the sick animals on symptomatic findings rather
than the actual diagnosis.
The provision of necessary chemicals and instruments at
every veterinary hospital and dispensary for the laboratory
diagnosis of disease would be helpful for early recovery of
sick animals.
The active and positive participation of 1102 farmers in 57
meetings held in District Sahiwal for livestock Disease
Search program gave the result that livestock production
extension program is the basic need of farmer to develop
his economy as well as the National Economy at large.

For more detail;

Dr Muhammad Rasheed
House # 235/W
Scheme # 3 Sahiwal
Voice: 044150305
Cell #:03006905109
E-Mail: vetdr@swl.paknet.com.pk