Estimation of the cost of tick-borne disease to livestock in Africa, Asia and Australia

• Department of Veterinary Services, Zimbabwe
• Department of Veterinary Services, Zimbabwe
• Queensland Department of Primary Industries, Australia
• eSYS Development, Australia

Tick-borne diseases cause significant losses in animal productivity globally, but information on their regional impacts is patchy at best. Such information is critical for any meaningful ex ante impact assessments of research activities. The aims of this SPG are twofold. First, the SPG will estimate the cost of tick-borne diseases in cattle in Africa, Asia and Australia. Second, the SPG will estimate returns to an integrated package of tick-borne disease control technologies, using Zimbabwe as a case study. Activities will pool together available data on incidence of tick-borne disease, mortality rates, morbidity rates (where available) and impact on key productivity indicators in the livestock sectors in Asia and Australia and Africa. The SPG will collect information on the costs of control of the different diseases. All these data will form the basis for estimates of potential benefit of research, using spreadsheet methods developed and applied in Australia and Africa.

The aim of the ILRI tick project was to estimate the cost of different tick-borne diseases on livestock productivity in Africa, Asia and Australia, and to estimate the returns from an integrated package of tick-borne disease control technologies based on the cost of control of the different diseases. The research undertaken has provided valuable new information on the incidence and costs of tick-borne diseases, particularly through out Asia. Overall the project found that ticks and associated diseases appear to have low priority for cattle production in the Asian region, with the exception of some localised production systems such as the Thai dairy sector, sections of Chinese livestock and the Philippine live cattle industries. Whereas in African countries such as Zimbabwe, Kenya and the Republic of South Africa, the cost of ticks and tickborne diseases were found to be significantly higher with producers employing high frequency (and relatively costly) control methods.