Kikonyogo Ngatya
16 May 2008
Kampala — Rachael Kasule, a small holder poultry keeper in Vvumba village, Luweero District, recently lost over 100 indigenous chickens valued at about half a million shillings, which she would have used for paying school fees.
The culprit was Newcastle disease, which sweeps through virtually every Ugandan village year in, year out.
The birds had green diarrhoea and repeatedly twisted their necks. Within a week, virtually her entire flock was gone. "It was hard. I am a model farmer but I was helpless," she laments.
Within two weeks, almost all the chickens in Vvumba village had died of the disease, which they refer to as mulalama. Veterinary doctors from Namulonge Research institute confirmed Newcastle disease.
Commercial vaccines do exist and would have saved Kasule's flock. Trouble is, these vaccines require to be kept in a fridge, which Kasule and her villagemates do not have.
Secondly, they are designed for large numbers of birds. Usually one vial targets 1,000 birds yet most small-scale farmers have less than 100. This makes them suitable for commercial farmers, who produce mostly exotic poultry.
They are of little usability for indigenous chickens, which are kept on a small scale by virtually every rural household in Uganda, and which constitute over 80% of the country's poultry population.
Veterinary experts single out the Newcastle disease as the biggest constraint to indigenous poultry farming in Uganda. "It can kill the entire brood within days," says Dr Abed Bwanika, President of Uganda Veterinary Association notes.
Bwanika estimates that up to 80% of deaths of local breeds chicken in Uganda is caused by NCD. He says the disease has no cure and the only way to protect poultry is to vaccinate them.
However, most small-scale farmers are not able to use the commercially available vaccines, which require refrigeration. Yet a vaccine that was developed to suit their conditions has been put on hold for five years while millions of farmers countrywide continue losing their birds.
Currently Uganda's poultry population is estimated at 27 million, and over 80% of these are indigenous chickens kept by small-scale farmers on free range basis.
Dr James Illango, who led a team that developed the vaccine at the National Livestock Resources Research Institute (NaLIRRI), says it can be stored at room temperature and formulated for small flocks.
It can be mixed in poultry drinking water or dropped in the birds' eyes. These conditions, says Illango, make it suitable for indigenous poultry.
He described it as "a major milestone" in the protection of local poultry from the Newcastle disease. "You can not do any intervention in poultry in this country, without addressing this disease." Illango said.
It took four years and sh150m, much of it from the British Department for International Development (DFID).
The Thermal Stable Vaccine (TSV) was supposed to be mass-produced at a Government laboratory based in Entebbe and then distributed to farmers.
However, the laboratory was closed down and was supposed to be transferred to Tororo but since then the machines have been gathering dust in a store at NaLIRRI. What really went wrong?
Ministry of Agriculture officials are now throwing blame at each other, claiming that some individuals are intentionally sabotaging the government's agriculture modernisation plan by "sitting on the vaccine".
A senior government veterinarian who preferred anonymity said the Entebbe laboratory should not have been closed down without the means to set up a similar one elsewhere.
"Machines worth millions of shillings are rotting in stores when they should be making vaccines," said the source vet.
The National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO) says it is not too late.
"The machines can still work, but it will require funds to set it up again," says Dr Dennis Kyetere, Director General of NARO. What the private sector said
Private investors are not interested in the vaccine because they do not consider it commercially viable.
They would rather continue selling the currently available vaccines, which are more cost-effective for commercial farmers.
Alex Natukunda, the Marketing Manager for Coopers Uganda Limited, says a vial of the refrigerated vaccine, which vaccinates 1,000 birds, costs about sh3,500 yet vaccinating 1,000 birds with the thermal stable vaccine costs sh8,000.
"But remember there a few farmers who use these (refrigerated) vaccines and they are mostly around Kampala, Entebbe, Mukono and Jinja. Those are the ones who have over 100 birds. They are the ones who know the importance of vaccination, anyway," says Natukunda.
Natukunda instead advises the Government to take up production of the vaccine or partner with the private sector. "In the private sector we see this as the Government's responsibility," he says.
Dr Robert Kajobe, while acting Director of Research at NaLIRRI told visiting Members of Parliament in February that the stalling of the project "was demoralising the scientists' efforts and innovation."
He said MPs should do more investigations and have the vaccine produced at massive scale.
In the meantime, over four million households that keep indigenous poultry continue to suffer year in, year out as the disease claims their brood.
And with the rising poultry prices, the economic value of the losses caused by Newcastle disease can only keep rising.
Vaccine project stalls while millions of farmers lose their chicken to newcastle disease
What is Newcastle disease?
This highly contagious and fatal viral disease is the single leading killer of birds in the country. The disease is highly contagious and easily spreads from one bird to another. Because most indigenous chickens are allowed to roam freely, they easily pick the disease from the neighbourhood, it can easily spread to the entire village.
It usually affects many birds at a go and an entire brood can die within a few days. The affected birds lose interest in feeding, become weak, sneeze and have greenish diarrhoea. Sometimes their heads and combs swell.
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