A survey of butcher perspectives and prevalence of ingested plastic and hardware among goats in rural Malawi markets

doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-1878863/v1

Smallholder goat production plays a major role in rural livelihoods and food security in Malawi. While goat production is closely linked to small scale local markets for slaughter and butchering the perspectives of butchers and their potential as a source of information on animal health is largely untapped. Understanding butchers’ perceptions of factors impacting goat smallholdings is important to identify hardships for both butchers and smallholders. Butchers can provide insights into goat health issues that go unseen before slaughter, including the presence of indigestible foreign bodies (IFBs), which can impact negatively on goat health but are difficult to diagnose before death. The current study includes a survey of 50 butchers in central Malawi to investigate visible animal health issues before and after slaughter, attitudes to procurement, income, and impacts of covid-19 on business. Results revealed butchers find IFBs to be a problem, with 100% of butchers witnessing plastic and 66% witnessing other hardware in recently slaughtered goats. Dog bites were also frequent but the relationship between observed injuries from IFBs and dog bites to goat health was not clearly delineated by butchers’ responses. Income from goats varies and is largely dependent on sales following harvest of agricultural products, with potential for income to drop below the poverty line in times of hardship.

indigestible foreign bodies

dog bites

small ruminants

income

Goat smallholdings are second only to crop production in terms of livelihood importance to farmers and households in rural Malawi (Chintsanya et al., 2004; Freeman, 2008) and can generate significant supplemental income to act as collateral in cases of emergency, food insecurity, or for general occurrences (Kaumbata et al., 2020; Qokweni et al., 2020). Butchers perform a vital role in the smallholder economy by negotiating pricing of goats, both for purchase and sale of products. However, to date there is a lack of information on butcher perspectives, practices, and awareness relating to goat health, the rationale for goat slaughter in this market system, or the impacts of goat health on pricing and consequences for the livelihoods of the farmers involved.

Goat health can affect survival, yield, and potentially also the price of goats and meat; while animal nutrition and stock theft are also major problems afflicting smallholder farmers in Africa (Bath et al., 2016; Sidebottom, 2013). Numerous health indicators are likely to be visible to butchers without specific training or vigilance. These include poor body condition (a result of inadequate nutrition, parasitic disease, or other diseases), external wounds such as those caused by dog bites, and indigestible foreign bodies (IFBs) in the gut lumen. Dog bites are a threat to goat health and survival, and can indicate underlying risk of rabies transmission to humans from dogs (Hampson et al., 2015) and potentially from contact with bitten goats (e.g. De Brito et al., 2011; Twabela et al., 2016).

IFBs can take many forms including plastics, paper, ropes, cloth and leather, caked sand and seeds, maize kernels, metallic objects, and stones (Igbokwe et al., 2003; Sheferaw et al., 2014; Negash et al., 2015; Otsyina et al., 2015; Mekuanint et al., 2017; Makungu and Nonga, 2018). Negative impacts of IFBs on small ruminants include gut impaction, haemorrhages, rumenitis, and anaemia (Igbokwe et al., 2003; Bakhiet, 2008; Abdelaal and EL-Maghawry, 2014), with clinical consequences ranging from inapparent to lethal, and are generally detrimental to body condition (Igbokwe et al., 2003; Abdelaal and S. EL-Maghawry, 2014). While these issues are evidenced in small ruminants in Nigeria (Igbokwe et al., 2003), Sudan (Hayder et al., 2006), Ethiopia (Sheferaw et al., 2014), Kenya (Otsyina et al., 2015), and Tanzania (Makungu and Nonga, 2018), data for Malawi are lacking.

The aim of the present study was to characterise the state of goats presented to butchers in a rural area of Malawi, in relation to these visible health indicators and to the invisible problem of IFBs. Further, to understand how the health and provenance of goats affects the price paid and other factors relevant to farmer and butcher livelihoods.

A questionnaire survey was designed to investigate butcher preferences and opinions relating to goat traits and observed goat health indicators in an area of central Malawi with observed plastic contamination (Fig. 1). Butchers across 14 markets were asked to recollect instances of injury due to dog bites, and the discovery of IFBs, among the past five goats processed. Following local terminology, IFBs were divided into plastic and ‘hardware’, comprising other materials. Two questions were also asked pertaining to the Covid-19 outbreak which was ongoing at the time in the region and how it was perceived to affect business. Responses were collected by interview between 2^nd and 4^th July 2020 at market stands in the Dedza district in the Central region of Malawi. Social distancing was maintained for collection of interview responses following Malawi government guidelines, and ethical approval for the survey was granted by the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Butchers were not obliged to take part and could withdraw their participation at any time, and responses were anonymised at the time of collection. Complete survey data are available in Supplemental Table 1 and a blank survey is shown in Supplemental File 1.

Survey responses were tabulated in Excel spreadsheet (Microsoft Inc., Redmond, Washington, USA), and statistical analyses and graphical representations generated in GraphPad Prism version 9.0.0 for Windows (GraphPad Software, San Diego, California USA, www.graphpad.com). Images including the butcher stand and grazing goats and kids were collected in central Malawi in October 2019 and January 2020, for illustrative purposes.

Income assessments were derived from the distribution of responses on weekly sales and profit made per sale. Here, the range of possibilities was collected to identify extreme cases, as well as to witness the variation in income as calculated against $1.9/day world bank poverty line and $3.2/day world bank lower-middle income poverty line (World Bank, 2020).

A total of 50 butchers were interviewed across 14 markets: all were male and had a median of 8 years’ experience (range 1-30).

Goat health indicators

Around half (25/49) of butchers had been visited by animal health authorities for meat inspection. Dog bites were reported to be frequent (58% of responses), and IFBs very frequent (100% of responses), with all butchers reporting plastic in the gut among the last five goats processed, affecting around half of goats (Fig. 2a-b). Types of hardware include numerous sharp objects ranging in size from pins to bicycle spokes (Fig. 2c). Despite acknowledging the issue of IFBs in goats and the relatively large proportion of goats found with plastic and/or other hardware, the majority of butchers consider such substances to be uncommon or not problematic (Fig. 2d).

Assessing goat characteristic preferences and frequency among rural butchers

In terms of characteristics seen most frequently at market, almost 40% of butchers reported that they never sold sick goats, while 20% reported never selling injured goats (Fig. 3a). Both female and male goats were commonly slaughtered, the majority of which are younger (Fig. 3a). While very few of the butchers interviewed believed any of the survey characteristics to be of ‘no importance at all’, owner distance, knowledge of the ownership, and injury status were stated to be of minimal importance across all butchers (Fig. 3b). Goat age was important to a small proportion of butchers while goat sex the was split, with ~50% considering the sex of the goat to be of high importance for sale (Fig. 3b). Overall, size and health were the most important factors (Fig. 3b), with injury unanimously considered less important. However, the specific aspects considered by butchers to encompass health were not investigated further.

Sourcing of goats not of importance to butchers

Butchers report that most goats are sourced locally (Fig. S2a) but without specifically considering the distance (Fig. 3b). Strikingly, knowledge of theft is unanimously of ‘low’ or ‘no importance’ to the decision to purchase (Fig. 3b). Interestingly, 100% of goat to butcher sales are between adult males (male butcher, male goat seller).

Butcher income highly variable and at risk of poverty line

To establish baseline income data, the sales and profit from sales, were estimated from the most and the least number of goats slaughtered and sold per week (Fig. 4a-b). The results indicated overlap between butchers, but the vast majority of responses indicate that most sales occur ‘after harvest’ (98% of responses) or ‘during festivities’ (86% of responses) (Fig. 4c).

Profit was measured by the difference between the prices of purchase and sales (Fig. 4d-g), but were highly variable, with poor profitability, due to a relatively high purchase price compared to the overall income. By this measure an income loss was recorded for a single butcher (see Fig. 4e), but this same butcher reported their business to be profitable (See Table S1) and was therefore dismissed from further analysis due to potential error. A mean profit of 5416 Malawian Kwacha per goat sale was found, with a median of 5000 Malawian Kwacha (Fig. 4f). There was no significant linear correlation between goat sales and profit margin (Fig. 4f).

The distribution of sales and profit per sale were measured as income compared to world bank estimates (Table 1). The median income as calculated by sales and profit per sale was above the World Bank low-income poverty line (World Bank, 2020). In contrast, weeks with reduced profit or lower quartile sales the income from goat butchering was below the World Bank poverty line for lower-middle income countries (Table 1).

Covid-19 negatively impacts business

Due to the ongoing pandemic, awareness of Covid-19 was gauged with 100% of respondents having heard of the pandemic at the time of surveying. In total, 32% reported reduced sales because of Covid-19 while the remainder stated no change in business. While most businesses were unaffected, closure of schools (n=12/50) and fear of infected meat (n=3/50) were the main reasons for loss of sales.

Goats function as a living asset in Malawi and many other agrarian subsistence cultures worldwide. In Malawi, goats are the most common smallholder livestock kept, after chickens, and act as an investment which can rapidly be exchanged for cash when needed (Freeman, 2008; Kaumbata et al., 2020). Goat sales are interlinked with agrarian lifestyles, as evidenced with the majority of sales occurring after harvest and during festival periods (see Fig. 4c). While goat ownership is closely tied to livelihoods, the perspectives and incomes of butchers is less well studied. We report that 100% of butchers surveyed believe their trade to be profitable, as apparently supported by our estimate of a median income 2.48x above the World Bank low-income poverty line of $1.9/day (World Bank, 2020). However, weeks with the lowest sales (2 goats per week) at median profit result in income below the World Bank low-income poverty line (Table 1). In addition, weeks with reduced profit or lower quartile sales result in income below the World Bank poverty line for lower-middle income countries (World Bank, 2020). The effect of sales being at their lowest throughout the dry season (see Fig. 4c), is that butchers may go months with little income. This is no doubt exacerbated by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. It will be interesting to question the saving habits of butchers in this system, and whether they specialise in butchery or rely on alternative sources of income, including goat smallholdings as a source of capital, during lean periods.

It is clear that the health and wellbeing of goats is critical to the livelihoods of both the farmer and the butcher alike, but against a background of highly restricted access to veterinary services. Hence, losses of goats through forced slaughter, for instance when a goat has been injured or is suffering from illness, can result in loss of a breeding buck, a pregnant doe, or an animal which has not reached a profitable weight. While butchers claim that health is a top priority (see Fig. 3), it seems unlikely that they are either aware of, or willing to admit to health and injury issues associated with slaughtered goats. For instance, 17% of goats slaughtered in the survey had dog bites, but butchers report that injuries are rare or never seen. This suggests that while dog bites are not considered to have an impact on health or injury, the fact that goats are frequently sold by farmers after they have received such bites, could be an indication of an attempt at limiting the risk of rabies which causes significant livestock losses and human deaths in Malawi (Hampson et al., 2015), and can be transmitted from dogs to goats and on to people. In another recent study, high levels of bacterial contamination were found in similar market stands in Lilongwe, suggesting that butchers need improved education and resources relating to health of both humans and animals (Tanganyika et al., 2017).

Information loss between veterinary service, farmer, and butcher can negatively impact the livelihoods of all parties, since butchers may witness causes of illness during slaughter but not relay this information back to veterinary personnel or the farmer. Witnessing a high level of IFBs for instance could trigger broader efforts to reduce pollution, which in turn can prevent loss of goats due to illness or lack of productivity. As butchers are in a prime position to detect and identify IFBs, we sought to quantify the prevalence of IFBs of plastic and metal (hardware), which were selected due to their high prevalence in other studies and their likely detrimental impact on survival of the animals involved (Igbokwe et al., 2003; Negash et al., 2015; Mekuanint et al., 2017; Makungu and Nonga, 2018). It is thought that the presence of refuse coupled with pica from nutritional deficiency drive IFB ingestion. This is evidenced in the increased prevalence of IFBs in urban dwelling goats of Nigeria, which have lower body condition scores compared to rural goats (Remi-Adewunmi et al., 2004). Additionally, the desert-climate goats in the arid climates of Sudan and Ethiopia have high levels of IFBs and these make up ~50% of goat surgical interventions (Hayder et al., 2006; Ghurashi et al., 2009). In consequence, despite rural Malawi being in a semi-tropical climate, poor nutritional status of goats, resulting from seasonal lack of forage and parasitisation with gastrointestinal nematodes, are likely to drive scavenging and coincidental ingestion of IFBs when they happen to be present Fig. 2). The impact of plastics, hardware, and other IFBs is not fully understood in rural Malawi, but it is known that IFBs have detrimental effects leading to impaction and haemorrhaging of the bowel (Bakhiet, 2008; Mekuanint et al., 2017), and traumatic reticulo-pericarditis, and it is highly likely that goats containing sharp objects such as listed in Fig. 2c could be at higher risk of haemorrhage and other adverse consequences. If farmers and local veterinary personnel could be made aware of the presence of IFBs and any correlations with pathology following slaughter, the scope and impact of IFBs can be properly addressed. This feedback is critical since slaughter may be a result of poor performance caused by IFBs.

IFBs are known to occur when ruminants graze in areas such as refuse dumps, urban areas, or other areas where pollution is coupled with poor grazing conditions (Igbokwe et al., 2003; Remi-Adewunmi et al., 2004; Ghurashi et al., 2009), but the extent thereof in semi-tropical rural areas found in the study area are not well documented. Furthermore, published studies focus on slaughterhouses, which accommodate larger scale livestock farming industries (Bakhiet, 2008; Makungu and Nonga, 2018). In Malawi smallholder-owned goats will often be slaughtered locally by a butcher in the nearest village or by the side of the road. In these areas, no part of the animal is wasted, with the entire alimentary canal cleaned thoroughly and prepared for consumption when the butcher is present. Because of this, butchers in rural Malawi will encounter IFBs if they are present during slaughter and will need to remove such objects to ensure safe human consumption of the resulting meat.

IFBs are correlated to lower weight, poor body condition, and anaemia (Igbokwe et al., 2003; Remi-Adewunmi et al., 2004; Sheferaw et al., 2014; Negash et al., 2015). Such conditions mirror infections with gastrointestinal nematodes and other helminth parasites which can be detected through poor body condition, anaemia, and other patho-physiological indicators (Bath and van Wyk, 2009). In areas where IFBs are prevalent and detrimental to goat survival, inclusion of IFB based checks may be critical to determining the cause of poor performance. This is particularly critical when identifying resilience to helminths in local goat breeds, as IFBs can give the appearance of susceptibility to helminth burden.

Preventing IFB diseases will require educational campaigns, reduction in refuse pollution, and affordable diagnostic solutions. IFB removal has been successfully performed and comprised 49% of surgical cases in Sudanese goats from 1998-2002 (Hayder et al., 2006; Ghurashi et al., 2009). Such interventions are far too invasive and costly for smallholder farmers in Malawi given refuse pollution is a widespread issue. As such, other means are needed for diagnosis of severe IFB cases in smallholder goats in Malawi.

In addition to health, the ethical sourcing of goats for slaughter is required to ensure livelihood of farmers. Roughly 20% of Malawian livestock owners have experienced theft, with goats the second most frequently stolen livestock after chickens (Sidebottom, 2013). Reduction of theft will require participation of butchers, as well as a tracing system, but the lack of importance given to goat ownership, or the distance brought will limit such efforts in Malawi (see Fig. 3). Butchers do typically source goats locally but 100% of respondents are male and acquire goats from other males, suggesting that cultural factors are at play regarding goat sales (Fig. S2). Since many smallholders are female (Chintsanya et al. 2004) this leaves a gap where theft-based sales can occur. However, it may be that the ‘head of household’ is in charge of selling goats for slaughter. Programs have been successfully implemented in Malawi, such as Chikwawa Livestock Association use of ownership certificates (Freeman, 2008). Similar programs in the Dedza district may be effective, but require participation from butchers, which will require a change in attitudes relating to ownership.

Ultimately, systemic interventions are needed to ensure goat safety and control of ownership. A sustainable and incentivised approach to control refuse pollution in Malawi is desperately needed as refuse undoubtedly has a negative impact on many other livestock and other aspects of rural life and wellbeing, including human health. There are calls for elimination of single use plastic in Malawi (Turpie et al., 2019) and other IFB research heeds a similar message to invest in better waste management systems (Makungu and Nonga, 2018). Further study of butcher perspectives, the reasons for goat slaughter including theft, and the impact of IFBs in livestock is needed to ensure stability of livelihoods in smallholder economies.

Butcher livelihoods appear stable but are at risk of poverty line income during periods of low sales or low profit. Plastic and hardware IFBs are widespread among farmers and butchers, but there is limited knowledge transfer between them. If farmers and local veterinary personnel could be made aware of the prevalence of IFBs, the scope and impact of IFBs can be properly addressed. Further, butchers do not consider theft to be of high importance, facilitating livestock theft to the detriment of smallholders.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the survey participants and local officials for facilitating the study as well as the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) for help in collecting survey data.

Author Contributions

The original study conceptualization funding acquisition by Andrew Safalaoh, Taro Takahashi, and Eric Morgan. Survey design by Paul Morgan Airs, Andrew Safalaoh, and Eric Morgan with survey questions recorded by Patience Khonje and Winchester Mvula. Data analysis, figure generation, and photography by Paul Morgan Airs. Original draft by Paul Morgan Airs with editing by Andrew Safalaoh Taro Takahashi, and Eric Morgan and comments from all authors.

Funding information

This work was supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council [grant number BB/S014748/1, 2018].

Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Data Availability

Original anonymised tabulated data and survey questions are available on request.

Ethics approval

The manuscript does not contain clinical studies or patient data and is an observational study. The Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources Ethics Committee has confirmed that no ethical approval is required.

Consent to Participate and Publish

All participating respondents did so voluntarily with verbal consent for collection of responses and publication of responses and images.

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Table 1: Income assessment of butchers reveals poverty line risk in poor conditions

Distribution of responses	Vary sales & profit			Vary sales & median profit			Median sales & vary profit
Distribution of responses	Sales	Profit	Income ($)*	Sales	Profit†	Income ($)*	Sales†	Profit	Income ($)*
Lowest	2	3000	412	2	5000	687	5	3000	1031
25th quartile	3	5000	1031	3	5000	1031	5	5000	1718
Median	5	5000	1718	5	5000	1718	5	5000	1718
75th quartile	7	6000	2886	7	5000	2405	5	6000	2061
Highest	18	9000	11131	18	5000	6184	5	9000	3092

♱ = median value reported as aggregate of all butchers.

* = USD shown to nearest integer, with Malawi Kwacha to USD conversion rate of 1 MWK = 0.00132140 USD (XE.com Last updated: 2020-11-28 14:18 UTC).

Bold values are below $1.9/day World Bank poverty line ($693.5), underline values are below $3.2/day World Bank lower-middle income poverty line ($1168)

FigureS1.pdf
Supplementary Figure 1 - Goat sourcing. Details of goats purchased for slaughter including (a) locality of goats bought for slaughter and (b) demographics of individuals who bring goats for slaughter.
SupplementaryTable1SurveyResponses.xlsx
Supplementary Table 1. Total survey responses to each question or question part.

A survey of butcher perspectives and prevalence of ingested plastic and hardware among goats in rural Malawi markets

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Abstract

Figures

Introduction

Materials And Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusions

Statements And Declarations

References

Table

Supplementary Files

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