Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T11:17:54.955Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Africa with and without tsetse

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2011

W. E. Ormerod
W. E. Ormerod*
Affiliation:
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT, UK
*
* Contact address: The Old Rectory, Padworth, Reading RG7 4JD, UK.
Get access

Abstract

The main reason for tsetse eradication, in the past, has been to remove the restraint of disease on cattle production. It is now argued, that the major restraint is not disease but poor land made worse by overgrazing.An association between overgrazing and drought is recognized in South America, Central America and Australia. In Africa there is strong, but circumstantial evidence that overgrazing may be linked to climatic change. Tsetse populations may in the past have been a major restraint on overgrazing but with new advances in technology it is now possible for such populations to be “managed” in order to protect vulnerable rangelands.Such a concept would mean changes in the attitude of society to tsetse which should come to regard them as a potential asset rather than as a liability.

Résumé

La raison principale pour l'éradication de la mouche tsétsé dans le passé était de supprimer la contrainte que la maladie exerçait sur l'élevage du bétail: on démontre maintenant que la contrainte la plus importante n'est pas la maladie, mais plutôt la pauvreté de la terre, elle-même aggravée par la sur exploitation du pâturage. On constate un lien entre la surexploitation du pâturage et la sécheresseen Amérique du Sud, Amérique Centrale et en Australie. En Afrique on a des preuves substantielles, bien qu' indirectes, que la surexploitation du pâturage pourrait en fait aller de pair avec les changements climatiques. Autrefois les populations de mouches tsétsé ont certainement limité la surexploitation du pâturage; étant donné les progrès récents technologiques, il s'avère maintenant possible de “gérer” ces populations afin de protéger le pâturage vulnérable. Un tel concept impliquerait des changements dans l'attitude de la société vis-à-vis de la mouche tsétsé; on arriverait à la considérer comme un avantage et non plus comme un désavantage.

Keywords

Tsetse eradicationovergrazingTrypanosoma evansiTrypanosoma bruceiT. vivax
Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Tropical Insect Science , Volume 11 , Issue 3 , June 1990 , pp. 455 - 461
Copyright
Copyright © ICIPE 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Charney, J. C. (1975) Dynamics of deserts and drought in the Sahel. J. R. Meteorol. Soc. 101, 193–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henderson-Sellers, A. and Robinson, P. J. (1986) Contemporary Climatology. Longman, London.Google Scholar
Obeid, M. M. (1978) The impact of human activities and land use practices on the grazing lands in the Sudan. Proc. of the First International Rangeland Congress, pp. 48–51.Google Scholar
Ormerod, W.E. (1976) Ecological effect of control of African trypanosomiasis. Science 191, 815–821.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ormerod, W. E. (1978) The relationship between economic development and ecological degradation. J. Arid Environ. 1, 357–379.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ormerod, W. E. (1979) Human and animal trypanosomiases as world public health problems. Pharmacol. Ther. 6, 1–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ormerod, W. E. (1986) A critical study of the policy of tsetse eradication. Land Use Policy 3, 85–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shaw, A. (1981) A spreadsheet model for the economic analysis of tsetse control operations benefitting cattle production. Insect Sci. Applic. (this issue).Google Scholar
Sinclair, A. R. E. and Fryxell, J. M. (1985) The Sahel of Africa: ecology of a disaster. Can. J. Zool. 63, 987–999.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stewart, P.J. (1978) Islamic law as a factor in grazing management: the pilgrimage sacrifice. Proc. of the First International Rangeland Congress. pp. 119–122.Google Scholar