Ethnoveterinary medical practice for ruminants in the subhumid zone of northern Nigeria
Ethnoveterinary medical practice is widespread among herdsmen and village livestock producers in northern Nigeria where livestock in the country are concentrated. For most of these livestock owners, modern veterinary inputs and services are not readily available and are relatively expensive. Traditional remedies are locally available and cheaper.
Our questioning of 50 herdsmen and village livestock producers revealed that the ingredients used in these indigenous practices include plant extracts, seeds, leaves, barks of trees, tubers and roots of various plants. These are processed in various ways and administered to animals for a variety of disease conditions. More recently used ingredients include kerosene and spent engine oil. Considering the combination of ingredients used by the traditional animal-health practitioners, it is likely that additive, synergistic and nutritional effects might be involved in alleviating the problem of ill-health in animals.
Herdsmen and livestock owners readily identify signs of disease (although some common infectious diseases have several signs and may affect various parts of the animal body). Aspects of indigenous health care practices are contrasted with modern veterinary health care.
Poor animal health is an important factor limiting animal productivity in most developing countries. In many of these countries, there has been a decline in funding for veterinary services and for animal-health care in general (Centre Technique de Cooperation Agricole et Rurale, 1987). For these and other reasons, most of the animals kept by herdsmen and other village producers are not reached easily by veterinary personnel. Traditional remedies, on the other hand, are more readily available and cheaper than orthodox veterinary treatments. In these circumstances, ethnoveterinary medical health care is the only alternative to “Western” veterinary therapy.
Traditional veterinary practice is based on indigenous knowledge passed on from generation to generation. A compendium of ethnoveterinary medical practices in parts of Africa has been published (Intermediate Technology Development Group and International Institute of Rural Reconstruction, 1996). In other studies (Nok et al., 1992, Nok et al., 1993, Nok and Williams, 1996), the active principle as well as the mechanisms of action of some plant extracts that are used in ethnoveterinary medicine have been discussed. In some of the studies cited above, the appropriate dosages of the plant extracts required to suppress the growth of causative organisms of some diseases have been given—thus suggesting the potential of traditional drugs in primary animal-health care.
We report various traditional drugs and methods of treating some common animal health and production problems among Fulani herdsmen and village producers. Fulani’s provide 85% of the meat supply in Nigeria (Anonymous, 1982) and are spread throughout the core Northern States of Nigeria. Fulani’s have a traditional lifestyle and cattle-management system and commonly use ethnoveterinary remedies. Similarly, village livestock producers in the Northern States of Nigeria adopt fairly common management practices that use herbs and plant products for treating sick animals.
Authors: J.P Alawa, G.E Jokthan, K Akut
Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/
Comments
Related Articles
Copyright © 2025 - All Rights Reserved
ISSN 2768-198X
List
Add
Please enter a comment