The role of value chain analysis in animal disease impact studies: methodology and case studies of Rift Valley Fever in Kenya and Avian Influenza in Nigeria Rich KM (1), Baker D (2), Okike I (3), Wanyoike F (4) (1) Department of Economics, American University in Cairo, Cairo, Egypt and International Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya (2) International Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya (3) International Livestock Research Institute, Ibadan, Nigeria (4) International Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya I NTRODUCTI ON An overlooked component in the socio-economic analysis of animal diseases is its impact in the larger livestock value chain. Cumulatively, downstream impacts can often dwarf the impacts of disease at the farm level, but public policy tends to concentrate primarily on losses accruing to producers. Within this environment, recognizing the vertical relations within chains, and the synergistic, complementary, and competitive relations between chains is key to tracking and measuring such impacts from an epidemiological and economic perspective. Value chain analysis captures the interactions of complex markets in developing countries and examines the inter-relationships between diverse actors involved in the marketing channel. A value chain is defined as “the full range of activities which are required to bring a product or service from conception, through the intermediary phases of production, delivery to final consumers, and final disposal after use” (Kaplinsky, 2000, p.121). Value chain analysis is particularly appropriate in livestock systems, given their long marketing chains, many phases of weight gain and feeding regimes, various traders and transactions, numerous stages of processing, variety of employment-creating services and inputs, and interactions between commercial and smallholder systems. However, their utilization in animal disease impact analyses has been surprisingly limited given the wealth of information they can provide on impacts and risk pathways that exist throughout the marketing system. Rift Valley Fever (RVF) in Kenya in 2007 killed over 300 people and engendered estimated economy-wide losses of more than US$30 million (ILRI 2009). Two major outbreaks of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in February 2006 and February 2007 in Nigeria affected 3,057 farms and farmers; 1.3 million of the country’s 140 million birds were destroyed at a cost of US$5.4 million in compensation paid by the Nigerian government (FDL 2008). In this context, this paper highlights the application of value chain analysis to tease out the more nuanced effects of each disease on different stakeholders in a chain setting and to provide greater insights on critical control points that may accentuate the entry and spread of disease. METHODS AND MATERI ALS In both studies, a value chain analysis was conducted based on the use of semi- structured interviews and focus group discussions, following the methods espoused by Kaplinsky (2000). The value chain analysis paid careful attention to the linkages and relationships both between and within actors at each stage of production. For the Kenya study, a major focus of the analysis was to assess impact among chain stakeholders, while for the Nigeria study, the analysis further identified critical control points of disease entry and spread. Focus group discussions and key informant interviews generated information from key actors: traditional and commercial producers; traders and transporters; processors; and final points of retail. The Nigeria study further explored relationships with breeder and hatchery operators, while the Kenya study interviewed a number of local butchery operations. Our primary data was supplemented with secondary data on livestock production, price movements, poverty rates, and income levels to contextualize the nature of the chain and assess the market impacts of each disease.