Assessing the impacts of seasonal rainfall and temperature variability on the prevalence of livestock diseases in Kotido District, Uganda

Abstract

The objective of the study was to assess the impacts of the variability of seasonal rainfall amount and temperature on the prevalence of certain livestock diseases, focusing on the prevalence of East coast fever and trypanosomiasis. The data used in this study included; monthly rainfall and monthly temperature data from 2014-2018 for Kotido district and monthly data for livestock diseases for the same period. This data was obtained from Kotido hydro meteorological station and Karamoja veterinary laboratory. Trends in seasonal rainfall and temperature for the five years of study were determined for a period of 2014-2018. Graphical and statistical techniques, which include trend detection (seasonal Mann-Kendall), were employed to analyze trends in seasonal rainfall and temperature. The correlation between the seasonal rainfall, temperature, and cases of the two livestock diseases for respective dry and wet seasons was determined using the spearman’s rho method. The results of the Man-Kendall trend test to determine the variation in seasonal rainfall and temperature indicated that for the five year study period, there is a trend in rainfall and temperature over Kotido but the variation was not significant, however small this variation was, it had an influence on the prevalence of east coast fever and trypanosomiasis especially the correlation results show this out.