Network Analysis of Cattle Movement in Mato Grosso Do Sul (Brazil) and Implications for Foot-and-Mouth Disease.

Foot-and mouth disease (FMD) is an animal disease that generates many economic impacts and sanctions on the international market. In 2018, Brazil, the world's largest beef exporter, had the recognition by World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) as a country free of FMD with vaccination and proposed to withdraw FMD vaccination throughout the country, based on a 10-year schedule, beginning in 2019. Therefore, Brazil needs studies to help the decision-making process, particularly regarding the availability of resources for strengthening of official animal health services. The state of Mato Grosso do Sul (MS) was chosen to be analyzed for three reasons: the size of its herd, the economic importance of its livestock and its location-which lies on the border with Paraguay and Bolivia. The current study adopted the Social Network Analysis and performed an exploratory analysis of cattle movement in MS. The most central municipalities in the networks were identified and they can be seen as crucial in strategies to monitor animal movement and to control outbreaks. The cattle movement networks demonstrated to be strongly connected, implying a high-speed potential FMD diffusion, in case of reintroduction. In a second stage, we performed an exploratory analysis of animal movement within the state, assuming distinct points in time for the identification of animal origin. The results of the analysis underlined the need and relevance of investing in animal control, sanitary education for producers and equipment and technologies to assist in the early detection, diagnosis, and eradication of outbreaks in a fast and efficient manner, preventing a possible outbreak from spreading to other regions.

How much is a pheromone worth?

Pheromone-baited traps have been widely used in integrated pest management programs, but their economic value for growers has never been reported.  We analyzed the economic benefits of long-term use of traps baited with the citrus fruit borer Gymnandrosoma aurantianum sex pheromone in Central-Southern Brazil. Our analysis show that from 2001 to 2013 citrus growers avoided accumulated pest losses of 132.7 million to 1.32 billion USD in gross revenues, considering potential crop losses in the range of 5 to 50%. The area analyzed, 56,600 to 79,100 hectares of citrus (20.4 to 29.4 million trees), corresponds to 9.7 to 13.5% of the total area planted with citrus in the state of São Paulo. The data show a benefit-to-cost ratio of US$ 2,655 to US$ 26,548 per dollar spent on research with estimated yield loss prevented in the range of 5-50%, respectively. This study demonstrates that, in addition to the priceless benefits for the environment, sex pheromones are invaluable tools for growers as their use for monitoring populations allows rational and reduced use of insecticides, a win-win situation.