Poultry farmer response to disease outbreaks in smallholder farming systems in southern Vietnam
Abstract
Avian influenza outbreaks have been occurring on smallholder poultry farms in Asia for two decades. Farmer responses to these outbreaks can slow down or accelerate virus transmission. We used a longitudinal survey of 53 small-scale chicken farms in southern Vietnam to investigate the impact of outbreaks with disease-induced mortality on harvest rate, vaccination, and disinfection behaviors. We found that in small broiler flocks (≤16 birds/flock) the estimated probability of harvest was 56% higher when an outbreak occurred, and 214% higher if an outbreak with sudden deaths occurred in the same month. Vaccination and disinfection were strongly and positively correlated with the number of birds. Small-scale farmers – the overwhelming majority of poultry producers in low-income countries – tend to rely on rapid sale of birds to mitigate losses from diseases. As depopulated birds are sent to markets or trading networks, this reactive behavior has the potential to enhance onward transmission.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Aug 25, 2020
- Source ID
- 10.7554/elife.59212
Entities
People
- Alexis Delabouglise
- Benjamin Nguyen-van-yen
- Ha Minh Lam
- Huynh Thi Ai Xuyen
- Maciej Boni
- Nguyen Thi Le Thanh
- Phung Ngoc Tuyet
Organizations
- Defense Threat Reduction Agency
- Pennsylvania State University
- University of Oxford
- Wellcome Trust
- École Normale Supérieure