Sustainable shrimp farming in Sri Lanka; Utilization of BMPs and antibiotics use.

Objective: In the context of the fast-expanding shrimp farming industry in Sri Lanka, this study aimed to evaluate the distribution and understanding of BMPs, examine the relationship between BMPs and disease outbreaks, and analyze the current antibiotic usage trends through a fact-finding survey. Materials and Methods: A questionnaire survey was conducted in 131 shrimp farms located in Puttalam District in North Western Province, where shrimp farming is thriving in Sri Lanka. The survey was conducted from September to October 2021. In addition, in August 2022 and August 2023, interviews were conducted with shrimp farms in Puttalam district and Batticaloa district, shrimp hatcheries, and export companies. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Probit, and Tobit regression analysis. Results: The item-count technique revealed a significant (p < 0.05) difference in the use of antibiotics without consulting experts, signifying inappropriate use. No aquaculture farmer reported being unaware of BMPs, and among the 45 farmers who attended a BMPs seminar, 30 claimed to possess a good understanding of BMPs. Probit and Tobit regression results revealed that the rate of understanding of BMPs, education level, and obtaining information on the sanitation management of shrimp farming from extension and guidance organizations were inversely associated with both disease incidence in shrimp farming and shrimp discards. Conclusion: Although the use of antibiotics is prohibited in BMPs, the analysis results suggest inappropriate use of antibiotics. The findings indicate that enhanced BMP understanding can reduce disease incidence and shrimp discards, emphasizing the need for incentives to promote BMP adoption and reduce the necessity for antibiotics.

Association of farmers' knowledge, attitude and practices with bovine brucellosis seroprevalence in Myanmar.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to identify the relationship between bovine brucellosis prevalence, farmers' knowledge, attitude, practice (KAP), and social factors on migratory draft cattle and smallholder dairy farms in the central dry zone of Myanmar. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 54 migratory and 38 dairy cattle farms between August 2020 and February 2021. A structured questionnaire was used to identify farmers' behaviors. Bulk milk was sampled and tested using indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (I-ELISA). STATA 17 was used for all the analyses. RESULTS: Migratory cattle farms had a higher farm level brucellosis prevalence (14.8%) than dairy farms (2.6%; χ2 = 3.75; df = 1; p = 0.05). Only 2.8% of the farmers had knowledge about brucellosis, while 39.1% and 41.6% had attitudes and farm practices with respect to brucellosis, respectively in the study area. Socio-economic attribute of training in animal husbandry (p<0.01), raising system (p<0.01), practice of separating the aborted cow (p<0.01) were negatively associated to brucellosis. The overall farm level brucellosis prevalence was strongly associated with cattle herd size (p = 0.01), free movement grazing practices (p<0.01), practice of self-removal of placental debris without using personal protective equipment (p<0.01) and farmers' attitudes towards eating cow placenta debris (p<0.01). CONCLUSION: Farmers had little knowledge of brucellosis. Attitudes and practices differed significantly between migratory and dairy farmers. Training and extension programs are necessary to make farmers aware of their KAP situation since livestock migration and the custom of eating cow placental debris contribute to the spread of brucellosis. Persistent efforts are required to reduce the adverse effects of brucellosis. Therefore, the study suggests that a feasible control intervention and public awareness campaigns need to be conducted regarding methods of preventing human exposure to brucellosis.

Communication medium in theileriosis control: the factors that determine disease knowledge among smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe.

Theileriosis is one of the most important tick-borne diseases that has been affecting farmers and thousands of livestock in Zimbabwe. The main government strategy to combat theileriosis is use of plunge dips with anti-tick chemicals at specified times; however, an increase in number of farmers caused a strain on government services resulting in disease outbreak. One of the key issues that have been highlighted by department of veterinary is the strain in communication and knowledge of the disease with the farmers. Hence, it is important to evaluate the communication between farmers and veterinary services and identify possible areas of strain. A field survey was conducted with 320 farmers in Mhondoro Ngezi, a district badly affected by theileriosis. Face-to-face interviews with smallholders and communal farmers were conducted between September and October 2021, and the data were analyzed using Stata 17. Communal farmers relied mainly on oral communication and had limited knowledge of theileriosis; therefore, dead cattle % was high among them. Though veterinary extension officers were the prime source of information, oral communication medium affected knowledge transferred. The results of this study recommend adoption of communication mediums that encourage retention, such as brochures and posters by veterinary extension services. The government may also partner with private players to ease pressure of increased farming population due to land reform.

Knowledge affecting foot-and-mouth disease vaccination behavior: traditional dairy farmers in the dry zone of Sri Lanka.

The aim of this study was to identify social and farm factors influencing the knowledge of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), factors influencing participation in FMD vaccination, and vaccination coverage. The study was conducted with 180 traditional dairy farmers who were engaged in cattle and buffalo farming located in three veterinary ranges of the Ampara district in the eastern province of Sri Lanka, during September and October 2019. The probit and tobit regression models were applied to determine the factors. On an average, the scores for knowledge of FMD and hygiene management were calculated as 54.5% and 49.2%, respectively. Farmers' knowledge of FMD was strongly associated with gender, level of education, and participation in the farmer training program (p < 0.01). The vaccination behavior was enhanced significantly by the number of animals, farming experience, knowledge of FMD score (p < 0.05), and hygiene management score (p < 0.1). It was revealed that social and farm factors contributed to the knowledge of FMD and vaccination behavior. Therefore, we recommend that the livestock educational training program will motivate better participation in the FMD control plan in Sri Lanka.

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) related to brucellosis and factors affecting knowledge sharing on animal diseases: a cross-sectional survey in the dry zone of Sri Lanka.

Farmers' lack of knowledge is assumed to have affected the presence of brucellosis in Sri Lanka for decades. This study, carried out in the Ampara district in the dry zone of Sri Lanka, revealed that there is a significant knowledge gap for brucellosis compared to foot and mouth disease (FMD) (p < 0.001). Only 8.3% of farmers knew that brucellosis causes cattle abortions. Only 2.6% knew that it is zoonotic. The difference in knowledge of the symptoms and transmission of brucellosis and FMD was significant (p < 0.001). Farmers' attitudes and practices related to the spread of the disease were poor. Farmers' education and spoken language had a negative influence on knowledge. Young people and those with strong social relationships were efficient in knowledge sharing. It can be concluded that brucellosis knowledge, attitudes, and practices are poor; thus, there is a need for more attention in disease control policymaking. Backward farmer groups should be the focus in animal health extension programs.

Association of farmers' socio-economics with bovine brucellosis epidemiology in the dry zone of Sri Lanka.

The aim of the study was to investigate the farmers' socio-economic factors and their association with Brucella prevalence in the dry zone of Sri Lanka. A cross-sectional survey was planned and a total of 1,153 blood samples were collected from milking and dry animals of 155 farms from three selected veterinary ranges of Kalmunai, Navithanveli, and Mahaoya in the Ampara district, which is a multi-ethnic area. The 　Rose Bengal Test (RBT) and competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (c-ELISA) were used for the Brucella screening and confirmation, respectively. Socio-economic attributes such as family income, poverty, education, main job, ethnicity, parent farmer, farming experience, and training in animal husbandry were determined as potential farmer-level risk factors. Meanwhile, herd size, grazing practice, breeding method, animal brought-in to the farm, and abortions were considered as herd factors. The results revealed that the overall animal level sero-prevalence of brucellosis was 2.7% (35/1153; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.7, 3.7%) and the herd prevalence was 9.6% (15/155; 95% CI: 5.7, 15.7%) in the area of study. Brucellosis prevalence varies significantly (p<0.001) among the selected veterinary ranges with the highest herd prevalence in Kalmunai (20.0%) followed by Navithanveli (11.9%) and Mahaoya (2.7%). Disease prevalence showed variability (p<0.001) among ethnicities with the highest in Muslims (27.3%) followed by Tamils (8.1%) and Sinhalese (2.7%). Poverty was highly associated (OR=3.75; 95% CI: 1.43-10.00) with the disease. Free movement grazing practices (p<0.01) with OR=7.2 and animal brought-in from outside (p<0.06) with OR=3.06 were positively related to brucellosis. It was revealed that farmers' socio-economics, such as ethnicity and poverty, and animal movement patterns, such as grazing practices are significantly associated with epidemiology of brucellosis in the dry zone of Sri Lanka. Therefore, the "farmer factor" should be carefully considered in veterinary epidemiological studies and animal disease control plans in the future.　.

Knowledge and behavior in an animal disease outbreak - Evidence from the item count technique in a case of African swine fever in Madagascar.

Pig production in Madagascar is not sufficient for domestic consumption. Unfortunately, African swine fever (ASF), which is a severe disease, is endemic in Madagascar and constitutes a constant threat for farmers. Therefore, ASF must be eradicated in order to guarantee the development of pig production. One of the main strategies in controlling ASF is stamping out which requires the farmers' collaboration in reporting cases or suspected cases. The objective of this study was to estimate the proportion of farmers who knowingly sell ASF-infected meat without reporting. Since selling ASF-infected meat is prohibited by the government, we used the item count technique (ICT), an indirect questioning technique appropriate for measuring the proportion of people engaged in sensitive behavior, for one subsample, while another subsample was asked directly whether they sell ASF-infected meat. Based on the ICT, approximately 73.2% of farmers who have experienced ASF sell the ASF-infected meat. This estimate was not statistically different from that obtained by direct questioning. In the 28% of interviewed farmers who believe ASF can affect humans, the ICT yielded a higher estimate than did direct questioning, indicating that pig farmers who sell ASF-infected meat hide that fact because of their belief that infected meat might harm human consumers, not because of the law. The ICT was thus a suitable technique to address the problem of sensitive behavior. In the case of ASF outbreaks, the Malagasy government should enforce the law more strictly and provide compensation as incentive for reporting cases.

An Integrated Epidemiological and Economic Analysis of Vaccination against Highly Pathogenic Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) in Thua Thien Hue Province, Vietnam.

The purposes of this study are to assess pig farmers' preference for highly pathogenic porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) vaccine, and estimate the cost and benefit of PRRS vaccination in Vietnam. This study employed an integrated epidemiological and economic analysis which combined susceptible-infectious-recovered (SIR) model, choice experiment (CE) and cost-benefit analysis (CBA) together. The result of SIR model showed the basic reproduction number (R0) of PRRS transmission in this study is 1.3, consequently, the optimal vaccination percentage is 26%. The results of CE in this study indicate that Vietnam pig farmers are showing a high preference for the PRRS vaccine. However, their mean willingness to pay is lower than the potential cost of PRRS vaccine. It can be considered to be one of the reasons that the PRRS vaccination ratio is still low in Vietnam. The results of CBA specified from the whole society's point of view (Social perspective), the benefits of PRRS vaccination are 2.3 to 4.5 times larger than the costs. To support policy making for increasing the PRRS vaccination proportion, this study indicates two ways to increase the vaccination proportion: i) decrease vaccine price by providing a subsidy, ii) provide compensation of culling only for PRRS vaccinated pigs.

Impact of foot-and-mouth disease on pork and chicken prices in Central Luzon, Philippines.

Central Luzon is the number one pig-producing region in the Philippines and was affected by Foot-and-Mouth disease (FMD) in 1995. In this paper, the impact of FMD on the Central Luzon meat market from 1995 to 1999 was examined. Employing the error correction model (ECM) and historical decomposition, the impact of FMD on the Central Luzon pork and chicken meat market was quantified. The following findings were observed: (a) pig farm and pork wholesale prices dropped 11.8% and 15.7%, respectively, after the initial FMD outbreaks in January, 1995; (b) in February, 1995, chicken farm and wholesale prices declined by 21.1% and 14.2%, respectively (while chicken retail prices also went down by 10.5%); (c) the margins of pig and chicken traders were also adversely affected at some point; and (d) FMD caused changes of dynamic interdependence among prices by meat type at different levels of the meat supply chain. This study makes several contributions to the literature on the impact of FMD outbreaks. This study is the first that simultaneously investigates the impact of FMD outbreaks on meat prices, price margins along the supply chain, and price interdependence in the meat system in Central Luzon, Philippines. Also, the Philippine pork industry is dominated by backyard farmers rather than the predominantly large commercial pig farmers existing in developed countries. Secondly, it yielded the novel finding of price decline in both pig and chicken prices as a result of the FMD outbreaks. And lastly, the study showed that the profit margins of the pig traders, pork traders, chicken traders and chicken meat traders were also negatively affected by the FMD outbreaks in January 1995. However, over the long term, the price margins of pork traders were more severely affected in contrast to that of the other traders' profits.

Detection of Salmonella spp. Isolates from specimens due to pork production Chains in Hue City, Vietnam.

From August 2007 until March 2008, we perfomed a detection and epidemiological analysis for Salmonella spp. in specimens collected from pork production chains to improve the quality of meat hygiene conditions in Hue, Vietnam. A total of 306 specimens were examined for Salmonella spp., aerobic bacterial counts and coliform. Seven serovars of Salmonella spp. were detected in retail pork, slaughterhouse carcasses and environmental specimens with the following detection rates: 32.8% of retail pork, 15.5% of slaughterhouse carcasses, 47.4% of floors, 38.1% of weighing bowls, 28.6% of cooking boards and 16.7% of tank water samples. Based on these results, we recommend that exhaustive sterilization, washing, routine bacteriological examinations and treatments at low temperature are performed in slaughterhouses, transportation facilities and retail stores.