Biosecurity breaches on pig farms is associated with the history and spread of African Swine Fever in Nigeria

Abstract

Background African swine fever (ASF) is a devastating disease of pigs that threatens the livelihood of smallholder pig farmers and the profitability of large-holder pig farmers. Outbreaks are attributed to human activities and practices along the pig value chain. Several outbreaks of ASF occurred in Nigeria in 2020. Hence a questionnaire survey was carried out with one hundred and thirty pig farmers and other stakeholders from 20 pig-producing states of the country on the pig value chain from the 8th – 21st of November 2020. This was to assess farmer knowledge of ASF and biosecurity practices carried out during their business along the pig value chain to suggest or improve control measures for the disease. Results The result showed that 64.4% of the participants had experienced ASF outbreak in 2020. The univariate analysis by Pearson chi-square showed that participants had knowledge of ASF (OR: 9.632, p=0) and how disease spreads (OR: 2.464, p=0.02), and were both significantly (p<0.05) associated with the history of ASF outbreaks. In respect of practices, sharing farm implements (OR: 4.033, p=0.01) and mating boars with other farmers (OR: 2.73, p=0.01) were significantly (p<0.05) associated with the history of ASF outbreak. Logistic regression showed that participants involved with self-medication were three times more likely to have a history of ASF outbreak than those who did not. Conclusions The result showed that though stakeholders were knowledgeable about the causes and spread of ASF, they still had poor biosecurity practices that resulted in ASF outbreak in 2020 — implying that as long as the farmers do not practice good biosecurity, ASF outbreak will continue to be a challenge to the pig industry in Nigeria.