West African Cattle Farmers’ Perception of Tick-Borne Diseases

Abstract

Worldwide, cattle production is struggling to face the negative impacts caused by ticks and Rhipicephalus (Boophilus)microplus is one of the most harmful ticks for livestock.Most of the people inWest Africa depend on cattle farming and subsistence agriculture. The presence of ticks on cattle is a major problem faced by smallholder farmers who fight for their livelihood. National and regional tick control programs could assist these rural communities in protecting their livelihoods against ticks and tick-borne diseases, but only if they take into account the targeted herders and their perception on cattlemanagement and tick control. This paper aims to provide a better insight in the socioeconomic characteristics of Beninese cattle farmers, and their perception on tick burden, as well as to document common tick control strategies. Different tick species and their seasonality are well understood by cattle herders. For tick control, many still use manual tick removal, especially in the north of the country. The high cost of acaricides, the lack of financial means of African farmers, and of the local stockbreeders in particular, limits the use of acaricides in livestock breeding inBenin.While aiming to increase themeat ormilk production of their animals, stockbreederswho can afford it sometimes turn to an abusive use of acaricides, which might in time lead to an increase in tick resistance. This study remains one of the rare studies to report extensively on the perceptions ofWest African cattle herders.