Tick control and acaricides resistance in Uganda: Current issues and future solutions

IFPRI and CIMMYT are conducting research on potential innovations aimed at addressing problems associated with ticks, tick borne disease and prevention measures (including acaricide resistance) in dairy cattle. There is wide acknowledgement that effective solutions for tick-related issues are complex and thus collaboration and coordination among stakeholders – including policy makers, researchers, processors, market actors, and farmers – is key to identifying viable solutions. To facilitate a broad and positive impact on Uganda's livestock industry, a meeting was organized for a diverse group of stakeholders. The meeting involved structured discussions on current challenges and as partners, co-design, and co-implement priority innovative research areas in the short term. The aim was to generate valuable evidence on tick-related issues for policy actions that can positively impact the livestock industry.

Currently, the impact of ticks and tickborne diseases (TTBD) on Uganda's animal industry is reported to lead to an annual economic loss of UGX 3.8 billion [2]. This loss is mostly attributed to calf mortality, loss of dairy and beef cattle productivity, expenses incurred in preventing and treating tick-borne diseases (TBD), and the importation of acaricides and TBD drugs, resulting in a forex outflow of over UGX 300 billion per year.

The key objective was to participatorily identify a bundle of potential innovations to address the TTBDs in Uganda. The meeting served several purposes: (i) acquaint participants with the results of our scoping studies on the topic of ticks and tick-borne diseases (ii) collect more insights into the challenges identified through scoping (iii) allow for discussion on potential research innovations on the tick challenges that could be tested within the Initiative’s timelines. (iv) prioritization of identified issues and potential innovations to see which ones have the potential to cause higher positive effects in this context. The innovations research was led by IFPRI and CIMMYT in collaboration with Makerere University.