Disease control practices among smallholder livestock farmers in Kisumu West Sub-County, Kenya

Livestock keeping remains central to smallholder livelihoods in Kenya, yet diseases such as Rift Valley fever, Newcastle disease, and anthrax remain a constant threat to the animals farmers depend on. We present findings from a qualitative case study of how ten livestock farmers, four agrovets, four veterinary professionals, and two livestock production officers in five villages of Kisumu West Sub-County actually manage disease day to day. The results show that farmers watch their animals constantly, through ordinary feeding, handling, and milking, but most of this watching never reaches a veterinary provider because it happens before any animal looks sick enough to call one. Farmers also prevent disease through community vaccination campaigns organised by veterinary officers, and, especially among women, by pooling money for vaccines and sharing advice over WhatsApp, a channel that can also spread wrong treatment advice. When treating sick animals, farmers sometimes follow veterinary advice on dosage and sometimes combine several treatments on their own. Because farmers in this study were purposively selected for their past experience of losing animals or treating them late, our findings are potentially biased towards this specific group rather than smallholder livestock farmers in general. We argue that farmers' everyday watching, sharing, and treating of animals is already a form of disease control, and that recognising this existing work is a more realistic starting point for strengthening surveillance than simply asking farmers to do more.