2011 EDITION

Fadzai
Zengeya
ZIMbAbWE
Agricultural sciences
HOST INSTITUTION:
Faculty of Science and Agriculture,
University of KwaZulu-Natal, Scottsville, South Africa
In Sub-Saharan Africa, wild mammals are veritable
reservoirs of disease. Domestic livestock living near
wildlife parks face a huge risk of infection that can
have major economic repercussions.
Fadzai Zengeya, 27, a doctoral student and teaching
assistant at the University of Zimbabwe in Harare, is
studying the spatial movement of domestic livestock
at the periphery of wildlife reserves to identify the factors
that promote interaction between livestock and
wildlife.
As part of her fellowship, Fadzai Zengeya plans to
use the latest satellite imaging technology to monitor
the geographical distribution of livestock in real time.
She will then identify areas of overlap between livestock
movements and the seasonal prevalence in herds
of diseases transmitted by wild animals. She will also
measure the availability of water and vegetation, key
factors influencing the movement of both cattle and
wildlife. By correlating this data with decisions
made by livestock owners, she
will be able to identify which herding
practices increase the risk of disease
transmission and to propose alternatives
to grazing or foraging in conservation
areas.
At the end of her fellowship, Fadzai
Zengeya will share her research results
with the communities concerned by the
risk of disease transmission. She would
also like to play an advisory role with
farmers and conservationists to help
develop the most beneficial environmental
management strategies.
“In the emerging countries,
scientific research is often
hard not only due to scare
resources but also to the
lack of role models. That’s
why it is important
to encourage women to
pursue science and to
support those who do.”