Livestock Diseases in La Macarena Region (Meta): An Exercise of Participative Epidemiology

Abstract

The La Macarena mountain range delimitates a transition between Andean ecosystems. There are currently important human settlements in the region that are searching for a decent living in extensive cattle raising. A project supported by the Colombian government is being conducted in the municipalities of Puerto Rico and La Macarena, which aims to introduce a technological package of tropical cattle farming in order to modernize livestock production in communities with a vulnerable population. The use of participative epidemiology tools in the framework of the project’s activities is hereby described, and particular attention is brought to the validity of using participative methods as an alternative to approach the problems of local rural producers and suggest alternative solutions in situations where resource limitations hamper the use of other study methods. Individual interviews and group workshops were carried out with livestock owners, who described the health alterations observed in their farms from their own perspective. After triangulation the description of the disease was compared with direct field observations and with the scientific descriptions of cattle health problems in the tropic. It was detected that deficiency diseases (pica, botulism) are very frequent in the region, reflecting the poor quality of soils and pastures. There are infectious calf diseases (calf scours, black scours) that occur due to management mistakes that are easily avoidable. There are also toxic and parasitic pathologies (photosensibilization and haemoparasites) that require a better understanding of their dynamics, so as to be able to design appropriate prevention strategies.