Penning pigs: Pig rearing practices, biosecurity measures, and outbreaks of African swine fever in central Uganda
In this article, I explore why a number of smallholder pig farmers in central Uganda decided not to implement the biosecurity measures advocated by veterinarians. I focus on the infectious disease, African swine fever, to illustrate how the biosecurity measures intended to limit the risk of disease,...
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | Inglés |
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Society for Applied Anthropology
2021
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/114345 |
| _version_ | 1855539575633477632 |
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| author | Thompson, Rebekah |
| author_browse | Thompson, Rebekah |
| author_facet | Thompson, Rebekah |
| author_sort | Thompson, Rebekah |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | In this article, I explore why a number of smallholder pig farmers in central Uganda decided not to implement the biosecurity measures advocated by veterinarians. I focus on the infectious disease, African swine fever, to illustrate how the biosecurity measures intended to limit the risk of disease, inadvertently constrained the future returns on pigs for farmers and their families. I draw on ethnographic research from Mukono, a district in central Uganda, to show how farmers considered pigs to be “quick money”—a type of household wealth that could be rapidly generated and liquidated with ease. I suggest that farmers’ conceptualization of their pigs as a specific type of wealth influenced the ways in which they integrated pigs into their lives and homes. Based on smallholder farmers’ accounts, I conclude this article by calling for a reconsideration of biosecurity measures as a universal solution for controlling diseases on farms. I argue that instead of designing protocols that separate species, disease prevention strategies need to recognize the ways in which different livestock animals become part of farmers’ lives and acknowledge how this influences farmers’ disease management practices. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace114345 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publishDateRange | 2021 |
| publishDateSort | 2021 |
| publisher | Society for Applied Anthropology |
| publisherStr | Society for Applied Anthropology |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1143452025-08-15T13:22:54Z Penning pigs: Pig rearing practices, biosecurity measures, and outbreaks of African swine fever in central Uganda Thompson, Rebekah swine animal production biosecurity african swine fever animal diseases In this article, I explore why a number of smallholder pig farmers in central Uganda decided not to implement the biosecurity measures advocated by veterinarians. I focus on the infectious disease, African swine fever, to illustrate how the biosecurity measures intended to limit the risk of disease, inadvertently constrained the future returns on pigs for farmers and their families. I draw on ethnographic research from Mukono, a district in central Uganda, to show how farmers considered pigs to be “quick money”—a type of household wealth that could be rapidly generated and liquidated with ease. I suggest that farmers’ conceptualization of their pigs as a specific type of wealth influenced the ways in which they integrated pigs into their lives and homes. Based on smallholder farmers’ accounts, I conclude this article by calling for a reconsideration of biosecurity measures as a universal solution for controlling diseases on farms. I argue that instead of designing protocols that separate species, disease prevention strategies need to recognize the ways in which different livestock animals become part of farmers’ lives and acknowledge how this influences farmers’ disease management practices. 2021-03-01 2021-07-21T17:56:28Z 2021-07-21T17:56:28Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/114345 en Limited Access Society for Applied Anthropology Thompson, R. 2021. Penning pigs: Pig rearing practices, biosecurity measures, and outbreaks of African swine fever in central Uganda. Human Organization 80(1): 17–26. |
| spellingShingle | swine animal production biosecurity african swine fever animal diseases Thompson, Rebekah Penning pigs: Pig rearing practices, biosecurity measures, and outbreaks of African swine fever in central Uganda |
| title | Penning pigs: Pig rearing practices, biosecurity measures, and outbreaks of African swine fever in central Uganda |
| title_full | Penning pigs: Pig rearing practices, biosecurity measures, and outbreaks of African swine fever in central Uganda |
| title_fullStr | Penning pigs: Pig rearing practices, biosecurity measures, and outbreaks of African swine fever in central Uganda |
| title_full_unstemmed | Penning pigs: Pig rearing practices, biosecurity measures, and outbreaks of African swine fever in central Uganda |
| title_short | Penning pigs: Pig rearing practices, biosecurity measures, and outbreaks of African swine fever in central Uganda |
| title_sort | penning pigs pig rearing practices biosecurity measures and outbreaks of african swine fever in central uganda |
| topic | swine animal production biosecurity african swine fever animal diseases |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/114345 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT thompsonrebekah penningpigspigrearingpracticesbiosecuritymeasuresandoutbreaksofafricanswinefeverincentraluganda |