Guerne Bleich, 2009 – Progress towards practical options for improving biosecurity of small-scale poultry producers

After more than ten years of circulation of the H5N1 HPAI virus, the number of endemically infected countries is increasing and incursion of infection into HPAI free countries continues to occur. Human activities are the main route for the spread of the virus. There are sets of biosecurity guidelines appropriate for large-scalecommercial production systems, but despite the production of many recommendations for small-scale commercial and backyard poultry systems, there has been little evidence of impact. This paper looks at the evolution of an approach by FAO to developing sustainable biosecurity measures for use by small-scale poultry producers. It is necessary to understand the attributes of the different possible measures and how these will affect the willingness and ability of producers with limited resources to apply them and how they will disrupt production systems. Studies of poultry sectors and market chains have reinforced the complex nature of these and the numbers of people involved in them, all of whom have a role to play in implementing biosecurity measures. Developing and achieving adoption of biosecurity measures will require a multidisciplinary and participatory approach working with producers, intermediaries, live bird market traders and, for backyard poultry, communities.