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Intensification of fragility: poultry production and distribution in Bangladesh and its implications for disease risk

Hennessey, Mathew; Fournié, Guillaume; Hoque, Md. Ahasanul; Biswas, Paritosh Kumar; Alarcon, Pablo; Ebata, Ayako; Mahmud, Rashed; Hasan, Mahmudul; Barnett, Tony

Authors

Mathew Hennessey

Guillaume Fournié

Md. Ahasanul Hoque

Paritosh Kumar Biswas

Pablo Alarcon

Ayako Ebata

Rashed Mahmud

Mahmudul Hasan

Tony Barnett



Abstract

Poultry production is a valuable source of nutritious food and income and is considered a crucial part of global development. This is especially important for countries such as Bangladesh where levels of hunger and childhood stunting remain high. However, in many low- and middle-income countries poultry production remains dominated by small to medium scale enterprises operating with poor farm biosecurity associated with poultry and zoonotic disease risks. We aimed to characterize the structure of poultry production in Bangladesh in order to identify the underlying structural factors and resulting practices which create risk environments for emergence, persistence and transmission of infectious diseases.

Using the concept of a production and distribution network (PDN), we conducted a review of the literature, 27 in-depth interviews with key-informants and stakeholders, and 20 structured interviews with poultry distributors to map the ways which poultry are raised, distributed and marketed in Bangladesh. Findings indicate that the PDN can be considered in the context of four major sub-networks, based on the types of chickens; broadly indigenous, cross-bred, exotic broiler, and layer chickens. These sub-networks do not exist in isolation; their transactional nodes - actors and sites - are dynamic and numerous interactions occur within and between the PDN.

Our findings suggest that the growth in small and medium scale poultry enterprises is conducted within ‘fragile’ enterprises by inexperienced and poorly supported producers, many of whom lack capacity for the level of system upgrading needed to mitigate disease risk. Efforts could be taken to address the structural underlying factors identified, such as the poor bargaining power of producers and lack of access to independent credit and indemnity schemes, as a way to reduce the fragility of the PDN and increase its resilience to disease threats.

This knowledge on the PDN structure and function provide the essential basis to better study the generation, mitigation and consequences of disease risks associated to livestock, including the analysis of potential hotspots for disease emergence and transmission.

Citation

Hennessey, M., Fournié, G., Hoque, M. A., Biswas, P. K., Alarcon, P., Ebata, A., Mahmud, R., Hasan, M., & Barnett, T. (2021). Intensification of fragility: poultry production and distribution in Bangladesh and its implications for disease risk. Preventive Veterinary Medicine, 191, 105367. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.prevetmed.2021.105367

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Apr 23, 2021
Online Publication Date May 6, 2021
Publication Date 2021-04
Deposit Date May 7, 2021
Publicly Available Date May 7, 2021
Journal Preventive Veterinary Medicine
Print ISSN 0167-5877
Publisher Elsevier
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 191
Pages 105367
DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.prevetmed.2021.105367
Keywords Food Animals; Animal Science and Zoology
Public URL https://rvc-repository.worktribe.com/output/1548627

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