A cross-sectional survey of 322 participants in Tanzania's Mvomero District found that 99.7% of cattle keepers administer antimicrobials, yet only 10.7% recognize the term "antimicrobial resistance" and just 21.1% keep any treatment record. The study, published January 23, 2026, in Frontiers in Antibiotics by Asimwe M. Mugyabuso, Ibrahim Makundi, and Amina S. Hoza, exposes the gap between near-universal drug use and meaningful stewardship in one of the country's most cattle-dense areas.

Mvomero, a 6,631-square-kilometer district in Morogoro Region, holds roughly 207,410 cattle. The team interviewed 299 cattle keepers, 10 animal health practitioners (AHPs), and 13 veterinary drug retailers (VDRs) between February and May 2025 using semi-structured questionnaires and key-informant interviews.

How well do producers understand what they are giving?

Awareness was thin even where general knowledge seemed broad. While 93.3% of respondents said they knew what antimicrobials are, only 10.7% were familiar with antimicrobial resistance (AMR), 14.4% knew that drug use in dairy cattle can leave residues in milk, and 13.7% could name a preventive measure for residues. The mean awareness score sat at 31.4% (95% CI 26.2–36.6).

Multivariate regression tied higher scores to tertiary education (β = 1.469, p < 0.001), secondary education (β = 0.878, p = 0.002), and more than four years of livestock experience. Farmers under 65 years old scored lower than those aged 65 and above. The data indicate that experience and education are doing the work that formal stewardship training is not.

What does daily practice look like?

Reported use, by contrast, was near total. Among 299 farmers, 298 (99.7%) reported administering antimicrobials. The most cited drugs were oxytetracycline (30.8%), tylosin (23.7%), and penicillin-streptomycin (6.0%); isometamedium chloride and buparvaquone appeared at 3.7% and 1.7%, respectively. Most animals were kept under extensive systems (88.6%) on herds of 2 to 77 head, with a median of 28.

Hygiene was modest. 58.2% of farmers washed their hands before milking, but only 5.4% used soap and 5.7% used a footbath. 77.6% applied manure directly to fields as fertilizer, and 17.1% of those aware of residue prevention believed boiling milk removed drug residues. The five most reported conditions — contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (28.4%), anaplasmosis (15.4%), and East Coast fever (13.7%) — match the drug list: tylosin for CBPP, buparvaquone for East Coast fever, isometamedium chloride for trypanosomiasis, and oxytetracycline as a broad default.

Why is the supply side weak?

Key-informant interviews pointed to the dispensing channel rather than the farm. Every one of the 13 veterinary drug retailers (13/13) reported non-prescription sales, as did 9 of 10 AHPs. All 10 AHPs and 3 of 13 VDRs said they relied on clinical signs rather than laboratory diagnostics. 8 of 10 AHPs and 11 of 13 VDRs cited weak regulatory enforcement and farmer pressure as drivers of inappropriate dispensing. 6 of 10 AHPs and 3 of 13 VDRs acknowledged limited personal understanding of AMR.

The combined picture matches the macro-trend the authors cite: antimicrobial resistance contributes to nearly five million deaths annually worldwide, with the heaviest burden in sub-Saharan Africa.

What changes for food-animal practice and public health?

For cattle veterinarians and producers, the practical signal is that over-the-counter access to medically important antibiotics is the most actionable leverage point. The drugs most often used — oxytetracycline, tylosin, and penicillin-streptomycin — overlap with classes considered critically important in human medicine, raising residue and resistance stakes in meat and milk moving through local markets.

For public health, the human-animal-environment link is concrete: 77.6% of farmers spread untreated manure on fields, residue risks enter the food chain, and AMR contributes to nearly five million global deaths annually, with the heaviest burden in sub-Saharan Africa. Companion-animal clinicians are not the population of concern here, but the same one-health logic applies to any practice dispensing the drug classes identified.

For regulators, the data make a measurable case for Tanzania's National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance 2023–2028. The authors call for prescription-only enforcement, antimicrobial categorization, diagnostic support, and farmer training matched to the education profile Mvomero reveals. As the current NAP-AMR phase runs through 2028, the Mvomero baseline gives district officials a benchmark to test whether tightened dispensing, recorded dosing, and manure-handling guidance translate into measurable shifts in knowledge and behavior.