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The animal health services-seeking behaviour of animal owners related to prevention and control of animal diseases may influence their decisions as to whether or not to use services provided by the public or private sectors. The specific objective of this paper was to assess the practices, capacities and incentives of actors involved in highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) control to provide information for prevention and control in Ghana. Questionnaires were designed based on specific practices, incentives and capacities associated with each mitigation measure that was being assessed. Two peacetime preventive mitigation measures (biosecurity and reporting) and two outbreak containment measures (culling with compensation and movement control) were selected for evaluation. Supply chain actors were characterised based on baseline information. Tables were generated showing proportions of respondents in the various response categories in Likert-scale type itemised questionnaire. Mean scores (and their standard deviations) for the various actors with regard to mitigation measures were calculated. Pair-wise comparisons were done using t-ratio statistic and significance of differences were determined at a Bonferroni adjusted P-value of 0.0024. The study found statistically significant differences between certain actors for practices (biosecurity, reporting, culling and compensation and movement controls), incentives (reporting and movement control) and capacities (reporting and movement control). The findings provide lessons to help improve education and messages on HPAI and to help provide technical assistance targeted at specific actors to prevent and control future HPAI H5N1 outbreaks in Ghana.

This study assesses the intervention against avian influenza in Nigeria. It applied a simple compartmental model to define endemic and burn-out scenarios for the risk of spread of HPAI in Nigeria. It followed with the derivation of low and high mortality risks associated to each scenario. The estimated risk parameters were subsequently used to stochastically simulate the trajectory of the disease, had no intervention been carried out. Overall, the intervention costs US$ 41 million, which was yearly disbursed in various amounts over the 2006-2010 period. The key output variables (incremental net benefit, disease cost, and benefit cost ratio) were estimated for each randomly drawn risk parameter. With a 12% annual discount rate, the results show that the intervention was economically justified under the endemic scenario with high mortality risk. On average, incremental benefit under this scenario amounted to US$ 63.7 million, incremental net benefit to US$27.2 million, and benefit cost ratio estimated to 1.75.

The risk of spread of HPAI in Nigeria was derived by using a compartmental model to outline endemic and burn-out scenarios. Two paths, low and high mortality risks, were associated to each of the scenarios. The estimated risk parameters were then used to stochastically simulate the trajectory of the disease; without intervention and with an intervention. The intervention costs the country US$ 41 million obtained through a World Bank IDA loan of US$ 50million yearly disbursed over the 2006-2010 period. The key output variables (net social welfare gain – with incremental net benefits as proxy, disease cost, and benefit cost ratio) were estimated for each randomly drawn risk parameter. On average, the results show that such an intervention would make economic sense under the endemic scenario with high mortality. The discounted costs (12% discount rate) of the disease without intervention would have amounted to US$ 145 million in total over the 2006-2010 period. The model indicates that the intervention could possibly have generated cost savings amounting to US$ 63.7 million, incremental net benefit of US$22.2 million, and a benefit cost ratio at 1.75 over the five-year period considered.

There are well-founded fears that it is unrealistic to expect Africa to achieve the Millennium Development Goal 1 (MDG1) to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger and to halve the proportion of people who suffer hunger by 2015. Recent efforts of African governments to meet the MDG1 have resulted in a number of initiatives including the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) framework that calls for 6% agricultural growth rates, the Maputo Declaration calling for 10% of total public spending to be on agriculture, and the 2006 Abuja Declaration calling for an increase in fertilizer use from 8 – 50 kg/ha by 2015. CAADP estimates that an average investment of US$18 billion/year will be required to trigger sufficient agricultural growth rate to meet MDG1. Meanwhile, budgetary allocation to agriculture in many African nations is low and an analysis of trends in foreign development assistance to Africa over a 10-year period (1995-2004) showed that the annual commitment to agriculture out of the total assistance of US$230 billion declined from 11% in 1995 to 6% in 2004. This decline could be traced to the frustration of donors and African governments alike at the failure of agriculture to achieve sufficient progress towards food security and poverty reduction. Nevertheless, there is evidence from the past that where projects have been successful, governments provided political leadership and financial support; organized farmers groups actively participated in decision-making; and that close public-private-partnership existed. Based on the lessons learned from previous projects and the subsequent more favorable rules of engagement of donors with beneficiaries, the paper concludes that the challenges and responsibility for getting agriculture back to the front-burner of the development agenda is largely that of African governments.

Detailed weekly sales transactions data for the period January 2000-June 2001 from three frontier markets in the central corridor of West Africa were analyzed to identify the factors influencing short-run, intra-year cattle prices. The empirical results indicate that in addition to market location and seasonality of supply and sales, market participants show systemic preferences for specific cattle attributes (sex, weight, condition and finish) and are willing to pay premium prices consistent with their preferences. Communicating this information to producers can assist them to tailor their production and marketing decisions to meet market expectations and thereby improve their competitiveness, profitability and intra-regional livestock trade. Innovative policy and institutional approaches to improve market information dissemination and ease other constraints that tend to dampen supply response, even in the face of favorable prices, are discussed in the paper.