A spreadsheet computer model of the benefits and costs of tsetse control has been developed. It aims to provide a sufficiently standardized framework for setting these out so that widely different situations can be compared. For this purpose, the main variables are grouped into four categories: cattle production system, disease impact on productivity, tsetse control costs and stocking density (represented by cattle in the area before control and those transferred into the area subsequently). The model covers direct benefit due to changes in productivity resulting from reduced mortality, morbidity and drug use and indirect benefits due to transfers of cattle into the area and the increased use of work oxen. A series of runs of the model based on a cattle production system oriented towards draught power production is used to illustrate how the model can be used to define the conditions under which tsetse control is likely to be economically viable.
