Abstract:
For poor smallholder farmers in Uganda, conventional drugs have become very expensive and an out-of-reach resource for the health management of livestock. The study was carried out in Buyanga S/C, Iganga district to evaluate the factors that influence the use of medicinal plants (MPs) in animal disease management with emphasis on establishing the common MPs used, studying factors favoring the use: MPs and limitations to the use, of MPs in animal, disease management 5 parishes, 2 villages from each parish and then to livestock rearing households per village were randomly selected. A total of 100 semi structured questionnaires were distributed to randomly selected farmers who owned livestock. The study results revealed that majority of the respondents were male (73%). Muslims (52%) in the age bracket of 41-50years (45%) and had attained some formal education dominated by secondary education (39%). Most farmers, <55% were using both the MPs and or pharmaceutical drugs to attain sustainable animal disease management, 25% used only pharmaceutical drugs while 20% used MPs only which were-easily accessible and affordable than pharmaceutical drugs. A total 006 plant species, with their plant part used and methods of preparation were, established as used by farmers in Buyanga S/C in managing different livestock diseases. Most farmers (48.0%) had experience of6-10 years in use of MPs, which were easily accessible (60%) mainly from the bushes (46.7%). The use of MPs was considered as a very cheap (60%) alternative to disease control and leaves were most frequently used (66.7%) which they mostly prepared as a cold extract (64.0%). Farmers considered, leaves as, being easier to collect and also conservationally favorable to the MPs used as also found out by Kamoga (2010). The factors which had statistical significance with the effective use of MPs included; MPs part used economic benefit, Source of MPs, access to MPs and experience in use of MPs. However, other factor such as; nonspecific dosage, low palatability of MPs to animals, low efficacy greatly limited effective use of MPs. There is thus need for further research and development to use of the MPs species for integration into the existing; since modem veterinary drugs are considered as inadequate and cost ineffective that is, hardly affordable to many livestock farmers. This review generally suggests that herbal medicines may indeed be beneficial for animal health, whilst at the same time highlights the need for mare controlled in vivo-research to validate plant bioactivity.
