Competing biosecurity and risk rationalities in the Chittagong poultry commodity chain, Bangladesh

Abstract

This paper anthropologically explores how key actors in the Chittagong live bird trading network perceive biosecurity and risk in relation to avian influenza between production sites, market maker scenes and outlets. They pay attention to the past and the present, rather than the future, downplaying the need for strict risk management, as outbreaks have not been reported frequently for a number of years. This is analysed as 'temporalities of risk perception regarding biosecurity', through Black Swan theory, the idea that unexpected events with major effects are often inappropriately rationalized (Taleb in The Black Swan. The impact of the highly & Erling Høg

Meat Safety in Northern Tanzania: Inspectors' and Slaughter Workers' Risk Perceptions and Management

“…Høg et al used the term "temporalities of risk" to explain risk perceptions in the context of time and experience. Most of their respondents in the Bangladeshi live bird trade did not perceive risk from, or take measures to prevent, avian flu in their stock because they had not heard of or experienced outbreaks in recent years and thus took no biosecurity measures against its prevention (51). In contrast, in Tanzania, despite hearing about occasional isolated anthrax cases, the absence of recent widespread or direct experiences, did not temper our respondents' concerns.…”

Meat Safety in Tanzania’s Value Chain: Experiences, Explanations and Expectations in Butcheries and Eateries

“…Thus, despite rural areas having less access to veterinary and health services, and rural meat-sellers having fewer inspections [59,65], they are more optimistic about the future. This is not, as our research shows, influenced by meat-sellers' past experiences and socio-cultural contexts [44,66]; rather it is the nature of the value chain and their close proximity to livestock producers which drives this optimism.…”

“…We posit, as do other authors, that better understandings of meat-sellers' own experiences and expectations can help to build incentives for positive behavioural change [8,43]. We also examine how meat-sellers perceive the future of food safety, drawing upon Høg and colleagues' concept of the "temporalities of risk perception" [44] (p. 1), which argues that sociocultural contexts and past experiences affect the ways in which people perceive future risk, whereby "risk which is calculated retrospectively is unlikely to encourage investment in biosecurity" [44] (p. 2).…”

Factors influencing the epidemiology of avian influenza virus circulation on poultry farms in Bangladesh

“…Poultry farmers might have developed lesser concerns about the impact of HPAI, as there are fewer official and media reports on HPAI outbreaks and human infections in endemically infected countries like Bangladesh (DLS, 2019;WHO, 2019), or because farmers reduced potential economic consequences by conducting rapid sales of their chickens when an HPAI outbreak is experienced (Høg et al, 2018).…”

“…Different studies highlighted that the likelihood of implementing AI prevention and control measures is depended on farmer's perception on the susceptibility of birds to AIV infection, the consequences of the disease, the benefits of implementing actions, any constraints or barriers to the implementation of those actions and sources of information that may influence individuals' perceptions (Cui, Liu, Ke, & Tian, 2019a;Cui, Wang, Ke, & Tian, 2019b;Glanz & Bishop, 2010;Glanz, Rimer, & Viswanath, 2008;Høg et al, 2018;Rimi et al, 2017). These factors towards the implementation of AI prevention and control measures will likely differ between backyard, commercial broiler, and commercial layer farmers, as farm management practices, production cycles, flock sizes as well level of education of flock owners differ between these three production systems (Cui, Liao, Lam, Liu, & Fielding, 2017;Cui & Liu, 2016;Jemberu et al, 2015).…”