Implications of Napier Grass Stunt Disease on Dairy Cattle Production

By Jolly Kabirizi

• Napier grass stunt disease causes considerable fodder losses and affects both human and animal welfare in various ways stemming from social to economic aspects.
• The catastrophic disease is mostly characterized by the drastic decline in herbage biomass that can go up to 100% in severely affected fields.
• While a healthy acre of Napier grass should provide enough feed to sustain four productive cows, fields affected by the disease may support only one or two animals, greatly reducing milk yields and income for farmers in Uganda.
• The decline in milk yield of over 50% due to inadequate feeds.
• Studies conducted in 18 districts of Uganda revealed that disease incidence can range between 10 to 100%, causing a reduction in herbage yield of up to 60% within a few months. This leads to doubling of the price of napier grass fodder in the worst affected districts. As a result, affected farmers cannot provide sufficient feed for their cows and many of them resort to selling off their animals. In addition, women, and children in particular spend several hours travelling long distances to look for alternative fodder.
• The increased cost of production as farmers have to depend on purchased feed.
• High labour demands in areas where farmers walk long distances in search of fodder from communal areas, and food and nutritional insecurity as home consumption of milk decreases.