Livestock officers deliver poultry decision-support tool to Ghana districts

In October 2024, ILRI researchers facilitated a training workshop in Accra, Ghana, on the use of the Interface for Marek’s Disease Economic Impact and Trade-off (i-MaDE-IT) tool, a farm-level decision-support tool for managing Marek’s Disease in poultry. 

i-MaDE-IT was designed to provide extension officers with a platform to support farmers with their biosecurity, vaccination, and other disease management strategies. It is publicly available and can also be used directly by farmers while they seek continued technical support from their district livestock/extension officers. Coupled with expanded farmer education and sensitization, access to i-MaDE-IT will contribute to improved poultry health and productivity in Ghana.

i-MaDE-IT is an offshoot of a more complex system dynamic model for small and medium-scale poultry enterprises, and a project output of the ILRI-led component of a multi-research institution collaboration under the Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases (EEID) initiative. The EEID project[1] focuses on the dynamics of infectious poultry diseases such as Marek’s Disease - a highly contagious viral disease of poultry that can cause weight loss, poor feed conversion, and up to 90 per cent mortality in unvaccinated flocks, which affects millions of farms globally and has particularly devastating impacts in many low- and middle-income countries where the disease is endemic.

ILRI researchers employed socio-economic assessments and participatory modelling approaches to investigate the management and impacts of Marek’s Disease in Ghana. In an effective application of a training-of-trainers (ToT) model, regional livestock officers who attended the October workshop committed to sharing their newly acquired knowledge with district-level extension officers in their respective regions.

With technical support from ILRI, the regional officers who participated in the lead workshop went on to organize training sessions for district-level officers from the government animal production departments, in 15 of the 17 regions of Ghana. A total of 464 extension officers participated in the regional training sessions on i-MaDE-IT, including 83 women. 

The workshop was attended by livestock officers from across Ghana. Participants shared their experiences:

• Mr. Edward said, "The i-MaDE-IT tool provides a comprehensive view of the economic impact of disease outbreaks, allowing farmers to understand the costs at various infestation levels. This emphasizes the importance of regular surveillance and record-keeping, which is crucial for effective disease management." He added, "While I haven't used the i-MaDE-IT tool formally yet, I've been practicing with arbitrary figures, and it's been smooth. It's a user-friendly tool that will undoubtedly assist me in my role as a livestock officer."
• Ms. Oforiwaa noted, "The workshop was well-organized and coordinated, bringing together all relevant stakeholders for first-hand training on the i-MaDE-IT app. I learned how the app can be used to simulate various socio-economic situations on the farm for immediate action."
• Mr. Yunus Yussif commented, "I learned how the web-based program can assist farmers and other stakeholders in monitoring expenses related to poultry farming and disease outbreak situations." He also suggested, "The tool should be available on the app store for farmers and other key stakeholders."

Dolapo Enahoro, the project lead and a senior economist at ILRI, emphasized the significance of this regional step-down training. 

"Having themselves participated in training sessions on i-MaDE-IT, the officers gained confidence in the tool's utility and user-friendliness and could effectively oversee adoption of the tool by extension officers in their regions. The buy-in and ownership of the process by the officers resonates well with the project's commitment to stakeholder engagement, where various groups, including analysts and field officers from the Ministry, have actively contributed to the project's site selection, data collection, and model validation.”

Joshua Aboah, the model developer, further explained the tool's versatility. 

"The i-MaDE-IT interface serves a dual purpose. First, without activating the disease outbreak feature, it functions as a layer production forecasting tool. Second, when the Marek's disease outbreak functionality is enabled, it supports disease mitigation strategy analysis. We hope this interface will empower layer producers in Ghana to make informed and evidence-based production decisions.”

These testimonials demonstrate the usefulness of the i-MaDE-IT tool and the importance of the training provided.

The continuation of this training from the October workshop is an example of how knowledge transfer and capacity building can drive improvements in the livestock sector. By empowering district extension officers, ILRI and its partners are strengthening Ghana’s poultry industry.

Regions covered: Ahafo, Ashanti, Bono, Bono East, Central, Eastern, Greater Accra, North East, Oti, Savannah, Upper East, Upper West, Volta and Western North.

This blog was co-authored by Folusho Onifade and Nana Adwoa Agyemang. Onifade is the Media and communication consultant at ILRI Nigeria while Agyemang was a research and administrative consultant on the Marek's project in Ghana.