Evaluating the impacts of community conversation on farmers knowledge, attitudes, and practices for animal health management improvement

Ethiopia is a home for diverse livestock including small ruminants and has the largest population of livestock in Africa. Livestock is kept for export earnings, food security, economic growth, poverty reduction and employment opportunities. Small ruminants are an important resource for livelihood and food security improvement serving as sources of food, income, risk mitigation, property security, monetary saving, investment, and providing other social and cultural benefits. In Ethiopia, lack of quality breeds, inadequate veterinary service, shortage of feed supply, and marketing are the main small-ruminant production challenges. Livestock production and product development are hampered by various constraints such as diseases, poor nutrition, traditional husbandry, and marketing problems. The CGIAR Research Program on Livestock (CRP Livestock) in Ethiopia works to address livestock production and marketing challenges and to improve the livelihoods of rural communities through the implementation of production improvement innovations and capacity development interventions. The CRP Livestock team has used the ‘community conversation’ approach to facilitate the implementation of integrated innovation practices at the community level. This community-based collaborative learning and action approach brings together community members and local partners to discuss a range of livestock management issues and act in an integrated way. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of community conversation on the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of small-ruminant keepers on integrated animal health management