Regional : Transboundary Animal Disease Control for Poverty Reduction in the Greater Mekong Subregion

Agriculture, natural resources and rural development / Livestock

The goal is to reduce poverty and improve livelihoods of the poor in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) by increasing livestock productivity, and enhancing local, regional, and international trade in livestock and livestock products by controlling the transboundary animal diseases (TAD). The purpose is to increase incomes of poor livestock farmers who represent the majority of the poor in GMS by developing a regional cooperation framework and implementing relevant interventions to control transboundary animal diseases.

The project was conceived to be carried out in two phases of 2 years each. The first phase was implemented in 2005, and is expected to be under implementation until June 2007. The primary objectives of phase I include the establishment of a strong regional cooperation mechanism, and initiating the development of national and regional capacities to control TAD. In phase II of the project, the expected outputs include improved knowledge of patterns of livestock trade and movements in the GMS, stronger national and regional diagnostic capacity to deal with TADs, and the development of well targeted pilot disease control programs. It is expected that these pilot programs can demonstrate the positive impacts of TAD control, on livelihoods of poor farming communities, and on regional livestock trade in the GMS.

The socioeconomic crises caused by the recent outbreaks of SARS (2003) and avian influenza (2004) in Asia, have served to heighten the awareness of the wide-ranging negative impacts of infectious diseases on human health, food safety, livestock trade, and livelihoods of poor farming communities. In addition to these outbreaks, continuing losses of livestock belonging mainly to smallholders in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), due to other transboundary animal diseases (TAD), such as foot and mouth disease (FMD), and classical swine fever (CSF), have clearly revealed major weaknesses in the public health and veterinary services. In response to these problems, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have developed a regional technical assistance project, which aims at addressing the fundamental constraints to effective responses to TAD in the region.

This TA, which is included in the GMS Cooperation Strategy and Program Update (RCSPU) 2006-2008, is consistent with the goals set out by GMS Economic Cooperaton Program that aim to (i) increase regional cooperation among its members, (ii) boost trade, and (iii) initiate interventions that reduce poverty through mutual learning and sharing of information and technology.

The impacts generated from this project are expected to contribute to the larger goal of reducing poverty in poor livestock farming communities in the GMS, through better control of TAD, increased production of safer food, and enhanced opportunities for smallholders to access higher value markets, in order to sell their livestock and livestock products.

The specific outcomes from the project will include defined and well targeted disease control approaches, and improved diagnostic capacity of the national and regional laboratories, to process a large number of field samples from diseased animals in the region, and provide rapid diagnosis for better control of TAD. This improved capacity will also facilitate better flow of information on diseases within a country, and between the GMS countries, for better disease control planning.

1. Participatory Research on Patterns of Livestock Trade and Disease Control in the GMS.

2. Equipping one regional and three national labs in Cambodia, Viet Nam, and Lao PDR with improved physical and human resources for FMD and CSF diagnosis.

Project activities were overseen by a Project Steering Committee (PSC) comprising of representatives from the participating and collaborating countries, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), World Organization for Animal Health (OlE), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and Food and Agriculture and Organization (FAO) and ADB.

Meetings with stakeholders, farmers, village animal health workers, and local community were held to explain the details and benefits of the vaccination activities. The critieria for selection of vaccination sites were: location and risk to foot and mouth (FMD) outbreak, animal population and number of farmer beneficiaries, and animal movement. Public awareness campaigns were carried out prior to the vaccination.

A biosecurity training module taking into account the local situation was developed. The module focused on different aspects of biosecurity, clinical signs, disease reporting and response was a training guide aimed at educating farmers and community animal health workers on biosecurity and a refresher course for field veterinarians. Training was provided to 2,992 village community animal health workers and farmers and 56 veterinarians.

A database program was developed and customized to facilitate the entry and analysis of information about farmers and their animals. Database entry fields included: location; village, commune, district and province; date of vaccination; owners' name; animal tag number; species, age and sex of animal; number of animals vaccinated; number of blood samples collected; and details of interviews with farmers and traders. The database will be useful for such future activities as livestock census-taking, planning for disease strategies, outbreak investigations and disease control.

Clinical surveillance for FMD signs were conducted to detect FMD outbreaks over a regular period of time, either after a vaccination round to assess if the vaccination was effective or if the area has been FMD-free for some time. In addition, various training courses were conducted.

A KAP survey was conducted among traders, producers, middlemen, farmers, transporters and consumers in order to obtain baseline information on the KAP of farmers and other stakeholders with regard to animal movement, as well as to control the spread of FMD, map out linkages among farmers and other stakeholders in determining animal movement and assess the most appropriate communication strategies to be adopted in communicating effective animal movement.

The pilot livestock traceability system was implemented in Lao PDR, Cambodia and Myanmar from June 2015 to January 2016 to promote market-based transboundary disease management and at the same time facilitate cross-border trade of livestock among GMS countries, with a goal to scale up as a regional investment project under the GMS Regional Investment Framework. With increased cross-border livestock trade, the changing disease landscapes and increased incidents of disease tainted meat and frauds in the markets, the regional LITS was highly relevant and instrumental for transboundary disease control and food safety in the GMS. A synthesis of international best practices in agrifood supply chain traceability that is tailored to the institutional, geographic, and economic realities of livestock flows in the GMS was conducted. Despite being a pilot project, the effectiveness of traceability technology has been proven and achieved much in terms of basic training and awareness raising on the part of both public and private stakeholder groups.