Poor mental health of livestock farmers in Africa: a mixed methods case study from Ghana

Abstract

Background: Agriculture represents the mainstay of African economies and livestock products are essential to the human population's nutritional needs. However, in many developing countries, including Ghana, livestock production fails to meet demand due to population growth and negative effects of climate change. One of the challenges to production is livestock loss affecting farmers. However, despite stressful events experienced, livestock farmers' mental health is poorly documented. This study aims to identify the root causes of livestock losses and their influence on pastoralists' mental health. Methods: We conducted a mixed methods study in two districts in the Northern and Southern Belts of Ghana. Using the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 and guided interviews, we collected quantitative and qualitative data from 287 livestock farmers and 24 key-informants respectively. Mental health scores were categorized using standard guidelines. We evaluated the factors that explained variations in mental wellbeing using general linear models (α = 0.05). Results: About 85% (240/287) of the livestock farmers lost cattle within 1 year. Of these, 91% lost cattle to animal diseases, 50% to theft and 27% to pasture shortages. Qualitative findings reveal that due to poor access to veterinary services, farmers treat livestock diseases themselves with drugs from unregulated sources and often sell diseased cows for meat to recover losses. Findings showed that 60% of livestock farmers had poor mental health. Of those, 72% were depressed, 66% anxious and 59% stressed. Mental wellbeing was negatively associated with the number of adverse events experienced, proportion of livestock lost to most of the major loss factors, emotional attachment to livestock and self-reported physical illnesses in farmers, but positively associated with increasing herd size [F (8,278) = 14.18, p < 0.001, R 2 = 0.29].

Coping with Adversity: Resilience Dynamics of Livestock Farmers in Two Agroecological Zones of Ghana

“…In East Africa, for instance, several episodes of Rift Valley Fever, mange, peste des petits ruminants, contagious caprine pleuropneumonia, contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, and foot and mouth disease, have caused high livestock mortalities and production shortfalls [41][42][43][44]. Similar ravaging effects of infectious diseases have been reported in the West and Central African regions [7,45,46]. Other adversities like droughts and pasture shortages, conflicts, and theft of animals have also been reported in some parts of the continent [25,[47][48][49].…”

“…However, livestock farmers continue to face many adverse events including animal disease epidemics, pasture and water shortages and conflicts that negatively affect their livestock productivity and profitability. The previous work among livestock farmers in Ghana demonstrated how animal losses contribute to distressing farmers' livelihoods and mental health [7]. The current research applied the resilience framework of Obrist and colleagues [11] to identify the vulnerabilities of farmers in different agroecological zones as well as their capacity to overcome these adversities.…”

“…Cronbach's alpha (α) values between 0.70 and 0.95 have been deemed acceptable measures for the validity and reliability of instruments [29]. Therefore, this tool could be particularly valuable in evaluating resilience levels among vulnerable livestock-dependent populations, especially as livestock farmers in Ghana were recently reported to have high levels of depression, stress, and anxiety compared to the general population [7]. The STATA software (version 15.1) was used in coding and analyzing the data.…”

“…Evidence about the risks and threats to livestock farming in Africa exists. Adverse events including droughts, conflicts, animal disease epidemics, and livestock theft are widely reported as vulnerabilities contributing to the productivity shortfalls in the livestock sector [5][6][7]. The occurrence of these adverse events leads to consequential losses of livestock and disturbs the livelihood system of livestock farmers [8].…”

“…However, some farmers also adopt certain adaptive strategies that could be detrimental to public health. In Ghana, a recent study found that farmers purchased veterinary medicines without professional advice and sold diseased animals as a strategy to cope with increased levels of infectious animal disease outbreaks [7]. Therefore, to enhance the resilience of livestock farmers, factors such as the provision of secure food sources and markets, effective local empowerment by governments, and improving access to extension services are essential [12,16].…”