Determinants of effective cattle disease management among smallholder farmers in light of rapid theileriosis outbreaks and economic losses: The case of Mutare rural district, Manicaland province, Zimbabwe

Abstract Smallholder farmers face significant challenges in effectively managing their cattle due to the rapid outbreaks of theileriosis and other tick-borne diseases, resulting in severe economic losses. These outbreaks pose significant threats to food security and rural livelihoods, yet there is a lack of understanding of the factors affecting effective cattle disease management among smallholder farmers. In this paper, we determine the factors affecting effective cattle disease management in Mutare rural district, Zimbabwe. We quantify the economic losses associated with cattle diseases which we use as a proxy for effective cattle management. Multiple linear regression was used to analyse the data. Six wards were chosen at random among 36 wards in the district, and primary data was gathered from 90 randomly selected farmers. The results showed that cattle diseases cause significant losses in the rural Mutare district, with an average loss of US$ 1 288.87 per farmer during the two years under study. The level of education of the household head, access to an animal health officer, and training on cattle diseases are significant variables in reducing economic losses due to cattle diseases at 5% while formal credit access was found to be statistically significant at 1% significance level. To lessen the losses brought on by cattle diseases, we recommend the government raise the number of animal health officers, strengthen training programs on preventing and controlling cattle diseases, invest in the development of a comprehensive disease-reporting network, and the creation of policies that incentivize banks to lend money to farmers.


PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT
The rapid outbreaks of tick-borne diseases, such as theileriosis, among smallholder farmers pose a significant threat to food security and rural livelihoods, due to severe economic losses.Despite the detrimental consequences of theileriosis outbreaks, there is a lack of comprehensive understanding regarding the determinants of effective cattle disease management specifically in the context of combating tick-borne diseases and minimizing economic losses among smallholder farmers.In this study we shed light on the factors influencing effective cattle disease management in Mutare rural district with the aim of finding solutions and ways to reduce these losses.Our findings indicate factors capable of reducing the huge economic losses associated with cattle diseases in Mutare rural district.We proffer a number of recommendations which when implemented can mitigate the economic burden on smallholder farmers and safeguard food security and rural livelihoods.
among 36 wards in the district, and primary data was gathered from 90 randomly selected farmers.The results showed that cattle diseases cause significant losses in the rural Mutare district, with an average loss of US$ 1 288.87 per farmer during the two years under study.The level of education of the household head, access to an animal health officer, and training on cattle diseases are significant variables in reducing economic losses due to cattle diseases at 5% while formal credit access was found to be statistically significant at 1% significance level.To lessen the losses brought on by cattle diseases, we recommend the government raise the number of animal health officers, strengthen training programs on preventing and controlling cattle diseases, invest in the development of a comprehensive disease-reporting network, and the creation of policies that incentivize banks to lend money to farmers.

Introduction
Livestock production is one of the sectors with the fastest rate of growth in most parts of Africa which is crucial for rural people's ability to support their families (McDermott et al., 2010).There are at least four ways that cattle rearing improves food and nutritional security for households: as a direct source of protein (milk and meat), by providing draught power and manure for crop production (Sekaran et al., 2021), as a source of income through the sale of livestock and livestock products and as an asset to improve food consumption in circumstances brought on by unfavorable shocks (Barrett & Carter, 2013).Livestock production in developing countries is characterised by low productivity and involves pastoral/grassland, mixed crop-livestock, intensive and landless systems, with low human population densities and varied land areas (Herrero et al., 2014).The low productivity in African breeds is attributed to poor livestock management, health constraints, arthropod-borne infections (Minjauw & McLeod, 2003), several outdated production systems, a lack of investment in the sector as well as the effects of diseases and pests (Madan, 2005).
Tropical theileriosis, a tick-borne disease is a serious obstacle to livestock development in several African and Asian countries causing huge economic losses (Ganie et al., 2019;Rasmussen et al., 2021).In Zimbabwe, the disease is a major cause of cattle deaths, with a mortality rate of 4.2% in 2020 (Bennett et al., 2018).Large-scale cattle farmers in Zimbabwe use various acaricides, formamidines, synthetic pyrethroids, and organophosphates to prevent and control tick-borne diseases (Sungirai et al., 2016).However, acaricide resistance is reported due to prolonged use of the same acaricides, and resistance varies depending on locality, acaricide type, and tick species (De Meneghi et al., 2016;Vudriko et al., 2016).Communal farmers are under-resourced and lack technical knowledge, relying on government tick control programs that are sometimes not enough while having to pay for animal extension advice in some instances (Sungirai et al., 2016).The lack of adequate government support affects the effectiveness of tick control programs leading to low dipping frequencies (Chitombo et al., 2021) which is common in most communal areas.
Tick management in Zimbabwe is usually different in most areas and it is primarily influenced by the availability of resources, technical know-how of the farmer, and several socio-economic factors (Grace et al., 2008).Smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe face significant challenges in effectively managing their cattle due to the rapid outbreaks of theileriosis and other tick-borne diseases, resulting in severe economic losses.Despite the detrimental consequences of theileriosis outbreaks, there is a lack of comprehensive understanding regarding the determinants of effective cattle disease management specifically in the context of combating tick-borne diseases and minimizing economic losses among smallholder farmers.The urgent need to address this problem stems from the fact that theileriosis outbreaks have far-reaching implications for food security and rural livelihoods.Therefore, this paper aims to bridge the knowledge gap by investigating the determinants of effective cattle disease management in the context of rapid theileriosis outbreaks and economic losses among smallholder farmers in Mutare rural district.
In this paper, we determine the factors affecting effective cattle disease control in Mutare rural district, Manicaland Province, Zimbabwe.We quantify the economic losses associated with cattle diseases as a proxy for effective cattle management implying that a farmer with less losses is considered more effective in disease management ceteris paribus.This is largely important to assist stakeholders such as the government, policymakers, and animal veterinary officers in supporting the decision-making process to effectively control cattle diseases and reduce the huge losses being experienced by the farmers and the country at large.

Study area
Mutare is a district located in Manicaland province of Zimbabwe.It has a humid subtropical climate with an average annual temperature of 19 degrees Celsius.Its annual rainfall on average is 818 mm which falls mostly from December to February (Utete, 2003).The rainfall in this province is abundant, reliable, and evenly distributed.Farming activities in this area consist of specialized and intensive farming.The province is favorable and centred around farmers who produce crops like tea, coffee, macadamia nuts, maize, tobacco, apples, pears, vegetables, apricots, and kiwi fruits as well as forestry plantations.Both intensive and extensive livestock production also takes place which consists of dairy cows, beef production, sheep, and goats.The rural portion of the Mutare district is divided into 36 administrative wards.

Research design and sampling
The study adopted a cross-sectional study design.The cross-sectional research design measures the outcome and the exposures of the study participants at the same time.This type of design according to Hofstee (2006) is used for population-based surveys and is considered relatively faster and less expensive.The paper utilized primary data which was collected using a structured questionnaire slightly modified after pre-testing in the field.The questionnaire was used to collect both qualitative and quantitative data on household head demographics, socio-economic characteristics, cattle statistics, mortality statistics, and disease control expenses for the past two years (2020 and 2021).The questionnaires were administered to the respondents by a trained interviewer to avoid misinterpretation of questions and to ensure thorough probing to come up with close to accurate data and economic loss estimates.
Six wards were randomly selected from the 36 wards in Mutare rural district.From each ward, 15 respondents were randomly selected to make a total of 90 respondents uniformly distributed in all six wards.A complete list of the farmers in each ward was obtained from the Department of Livestock and Veterinary Services through the local Animal Health Technician.In this regard, all cattle farmers in each ward had an equal chance of participating in the research.The unit of analysis for this study was the head of the household.Economic losses as a result of cattle diseases were estimated based on statistics provided by the respondents for the past two years (2020 and 2021).The data for this study was gathered during February and March 2022.

Descriptive statistics
Descriptive statistics were used to simplify and describe the demographic characteristics of the respondents as well as to categorize the distribution of some of the socio-economic characteristics solicited by the study.This was in the form of tables, frequencies, percentages, and means.

Quantifying cattle economic losses
We quantified economic losses associated with cattle diseases as a proxy for the dependent variableeffective cattle management implying that a farmer with fewer losses is considered more effective in disease management ceteris paribus.In livestock management, there is a trade-off that exists between losses as a result of deaths and expenditures associated with cattle management and disease control.All other factors held constant, higher expenditures incurred in cattle management and disease control are associated with lower economic losses due to cattle diseases.Hence, there are economic benefits (low economic losses) associated with good cattle management practices and various disease control strategies invested by the farmer.According to McInerney et al. (1992), this offers a basic model for economic analysis concerning economic losses associated with various cattle management practices.Therefore, to quantify economic losses associated with various cattle diseases we adopted and slightly modified a framework, proposed by McInerney et al. (1992).Direct economic losses for this study were estimated using two distinct components: (i) L -Estimated disease losses as a result of cattle deaths recorded by each farmer for the past two years.
(ii) E -Total expenditures made towards the prevention and control of cattle diseases in the form of veterinary service expenses, medication, vaccination, and other prevention measures for the past two years.
The total direct economic losses (C) were then expressed as the sum of the two components.

Multiple linear regression model
The factors influencing the variation in the overall economic losses caused by different cattle diseases among small-scale farmers were identified using the Ordinary Least Square Method (OLS) or a multiple linear regression model.These factors are essential to improving effective livestock management to lessen economic losses brought on by different cattle diseases and enhance rural livelihoods.Because the dependent variable (Total economic losses) is a continuous variable that cannot be justifiably divided into categories, multiple linear regression was utilized.The following equation denotes the linear regression model for this study: Where; Table 1 describes the variables included in the model, their measurement, and expected sign.
To see if the data supported the model's assumptions, several diagnostic tests were implemented.To determine whether the data had any heteroscedasticity issues, the Breusch-Pagan/Cook Weisberg test was conducted.Model misspecification was investigated using Ramsey's Reset test, and the presence of linear connections among some of the explanatory variables used in the regression model was investigated using a Multicollinearity test.

Demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the respondents
Table 2 presents the findings on the household demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the 90 sampled farmers in Mutare district.
The study sampled 90 smallholder farmers in Mutare rural district.According to the demographic results, men headed the majority of the households (74.4%), while women headed the remaining households (25.6).The majority of respondents (62.2%) had completed secondary education, followed by primary education (17.8%), tertiary education (15.6%), and those who had not completed any formal education at all (4.4%).The level of education of the farmer is very important in cattle management as it informs the level of understanding of the farmer on practices that are effective in disease prevention and control.
Only 1.1% of household heads were under 25 years old, compared to 41.1% of farmers who were between the ages of 26 and 50 and 57.8% of respondents who were over 50.This suggests that the local farmers are fairly old and most likely more experienced in good cattle management techniques.In terms of experience in keeping cattle the majority of respondents indicated that they had more than 10 years of experience in cattle management (63.3%) while 14.4% had an experience level of below 5 years and 22.2% had an experience level between 6-10 years.The majority of respondents (73.3%) were married, whereas 2.2% were single, 4.4% were divorced, and 20% were widowed.
In terms of socioeconomic variables, the study aimed to ascertain the extent of farmers' access to financing, their ability to access an animal health extension officer, and whether they had undergone any type of training in the management of cattle diseases.All of these are thought to strengthen cattle management competence in terms of disease prevention and control.According to the study, small-scale farmers had limited access to financing, with 60% of respondents indicating they had no access and 40% reporting they did.Farmers who have access to credit have the financial resources to purchase vaccines to prevent various cattle diseases as well as to purchase medicines in case one of their animals exhibits symptoms.
Most farmers had access to an animal health officer as shown by the higher percentage of 76.7% and the rest of the farmers (23.3%) had no access to an animal health officer.Although there are government health veterinary officers in the Mutare rural district, some farmers opt not to consult them when it comes to matters of animal health.With the theileriosis outbreak having been considered a national crisis training programs have been initiated in Mutare rural district to equip farmers with knowledge relevant to its prevention and control.In this regard, 64.4% of the respondents received training on theileriosis and other cattle diseases while the remaining 35.6% did not receive any form of training.

Economic losses associated with cattle diseases
The study also made an effort to estimate the financial losses brought on by cattle diseases in the study area over the previous two years (2020 and 2021) as a proxy for effective cattle disease management.Economic losses as a result of cattle diseases are comprised of both cattle deaths and any costs related to disease prevention and control, as was noted in the methodology section.The results for the losses are presented in Table 3.
Results of total economic losses indicate that the average losses due to cattle diseases amounted to US$ 1 288.87 per farmer with a maximum loss of US$ 3 660 being recorded during the two years.This indicates that, with the average value of a mature healthy cow for most breeds kept by smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe being approximately US$ 400, the average loss in cattle can be estimated at approximately three cows per farmer for the past two years excluding prevention costs.Most farmers blamed tick-borne diseases, particularly theileriosis, as the primary cause of cattle fatalities.The Zimbabwean government should therefore intensify its efforts to develop strategies aimed at mitigating economic losses linked to cattle diseases.

Determinants of effective cattle disease control
We also endeavored to identify the determinants of effective cattle disease control among smallholder farmers in Mutare district.To explain the variations in losses suffered by the farmers in the same geographic locations, several characteristics were regressed against the total losses suffered by farmers over the previous two years.This was done using the multilinear regression model.The R squared value for this regression was 0.4181, implying that 41.8% of the variation observed in economic losses due to cattle diseases and various other causes is explained by the set of explanatory variables that fit in the model.Therefore, it should be highlighted that there might be additional factors that fall outside the purview of this study that also contribute to the difference in economic losses and which can be investigated in greater detail in subsequent studies.Numerous diagnostic tests run on the data revealed no issues with multicollinearity, omitted variables, or heteroscedasticity among the independent variables.The results of the multiple linear regression are presented in Table 4.
Results of the multiple linear regression model indicate that level of education, access to an animal health officer, and training on cattle diseases were significant in influencing economic losses due to cattle diseases at 5% while access to credit was found to be statistically significant at 1%.The findings also demonstrated that factors such as the age of the head of household, marital status, experience, and cattle vaccination did not significantly affect the financial losses brought on by cattle diseases.These findings are in contradiction to studies by Mugisha et al. (2008) and Nkonde (2009) who established that male-headed households tended to be more effective in vector-borne disease control as they dominated decision-making on disease control strategies.
We found the attainment of tertiary education by the household head to have a negative significant relationship with economic losses due to cattle diseases (p = 0.045) with a coefficient of −1095.81.This implies that the attainment of tertiary education by the household head would lead to a reduction in economic losses due to cattle diseases by US$ 1 095.81.Farmers who are highly educated have some level of understanding of animal health issues.Additionally, highly educated farmers can quickly understand crucial information during training awareness programs where a variety of prevention strategies are covered.This outcome is consistent with that of Jobirov et al. (2022), who discovered that education level significantly affects beef cattle profitability in Tajikistan.According to Kumar et al. (2017), education affects access to institutional credit, which affects the farmer's ability to buy drugs for identified sick cattle.With a coefficient of −530.0079,there was a statistically significant negative correlation between having access to an animal health officer and the financial losses brought on by cattle diseases (p = 0.015).Access to an animal health officer therefore significantly reduces economic losses due to cattle diseases by US$ 530.01.Farmers who regularly seek guidance from an animal health officer about specific symptoms they observe in their cattle are more likely to receive appropriate advice and recommendations on how to treat the infection on time to prevent losses.Although several farmers had access to an animal health officer, we discovered that farmers tend to inspect their animals late which results in late reporting of specific symptoms of diseases thus increasing the probability of animal deaths due to the infection.Limited veterinary services in some regions may be a contributing factor in the enormous economic losses the Mutare rural district has sustained over the last two years.As such the government should increase the number of animal health officers and ensure that they are accessible to the majority of households.
A negative significant relationship exists between access to formal credit and the economic losses due to cattle diseases (p = 0.000) with a coefficient of −782.3822.This indicates that having access to formal credit prevents US$782.38 in economic losses brought on by livestock diseases.Farmers will have timely finances to be able to purchase particular treatments for various cattle ailments if they have access to timely credit.These funds can be utilized for purchasing vaccines, implementing tick control measures, and investing in improved cattle management practices which lowers the number of cattle deaths.Hence, the government should develop policies that incentivize banks to lend money to farmers.The outcomes are consistent with research by Kothalawala et al. (2017).
Training on cattle diseases and economic losses brought on by cattle deaths were significantly inversely related (p = 0.038, coefficient: −497.0553).This implies that training farmers on cattle diseases reduces economic losses by US$ 497.06.Farmers who have received training are more likely to know how to manage their herds, recognize disease symptoms sooner, and take precautions to try and stop the spread of the disease thereby minimizing losses.Hence, it is imperative to strengthen training initiatives on cattle management, alongside bolstering awareness campaigns to reduce economic losses.The findings support research by Wolff et al. (2019), who found that farmers who had access to training experienced fewer losses from several livestock diseases.A study by (Hopker et al., 2021) also found that people of lower socio-economic status and those with a lack of knowledge were not willing to pay for high-priced vaccines resulting in animal losses.
The results of this study are consistent with those of Kothalawala et al. (2017), who discovered that socioeconomic characteristics, including access to credit, poverty, education, main job, ethnicity, farming experience, and training in animal husbandry, are potential risk factors for farmers when it comes to effective disease control.Madleni et al. (2019) also recognized that advice or training played a huge role in maintaining high livestock numbers in the Free State Province of South Africa.

Conclusions and policy recommendations
The paper has shed light on the significant economic losses experienced in the rural Mutare district due to cattle deaths and the costs incurred for disease prevention and control.The economic losses incurred by smallholder farmers in Mutare rural district highlight the urgent need for comprehensive interventions to address cattle diseases, particularly theileriosis.These losses not only impact farmers' incomes but also hinder their ability to invest in improved cattle management practices and access to essential resources.Various socio-economic factors have emerged as crucial determinants of effective cattle disease management.We conclude that the rural Mutare district suffers significant economic losses as a result of cattle deaths and costs incurred for disease prevention and control.The major losses are a result of tickborne diseases, especially theileriosis.Level of education, access to an animal health extension officer, access to credit, and training on cattle diseases are significant socio-economic factors in effective cattle disease management in the study area.
The government of Zimbabwe should therefore step up its efforts towards coming up with measures that can help reduce economic losses associated with cattle diseases in line with the findings of this study.Firstly, the government should increase the number of animal health officers and these should be accessible to the majority of households to reduce losses associated with various diseases.Additionally, training programs on cattle management should be strengthened including awareness campaigns to empower smallholder farmers with the knowledge and skills necessary to identify, prevent, and control diseases and hence reduce losses.To increase efforts in the fight against tick-borne diseases, the government should promptly provide acaricides to common dipping stations and strengthen robust disease surveillance and monitoring systems crucial for early detection and prompt response to cattle diseases.Hence, policymakers should invest in the development of a comprehensive disease-reporting network that enables farmers to report outbreaks and receive timely assistance.
Additionally, the government needs to develop policies that incentivize banks to lend money to farmers.This can be done if the government can act as a guarantor to the loans offered to the farmers in the event some of the farmers fail to pay back the loans.This will go a long way in reducing losses against cattle diseases as the farmers will have funds to be able to buy medications required for the treatment of various diseases on time.By implementing these recommendations, policymakers and stakeholders can work towards mitigating economic losses associated with cattle diseases in the Mutare rural district.These efforts will contribute to improving livestock productivity, enhancing smallholder farmers' livelihoods, and promoting household food security.
Further related studies should be undertaken in other districts in Zimbabwe with relatively large sample sizes to understand if the economic loss trends are similar in various districts of the country.Additionally, future studies can also focus on a cost-benefit analysis of some of the interventions recommended in this study to ascertain if the interventions are indeed sustainable.Further studies can also focus on understanding the dynamics of animal factors including various cattle breeds and their influence on cattle deaths and losses.

Funding
No funding was received for this article.

X 5 =
Access to formal credit X 6 = Vaccination of cattle X 7 = Access to an animal health officer X 8 = Training on cattle diseases X 9 = Household size X 10 = Gender of household head µ i = Error term