Understanding Pig and Poultry Trade Networks and Farming Practices Within the Pacific Islands as a Basis for Surveillance

Abstract

Pacific Island countries have large pig and poultry populations. Yet little is known about patterns of contact between animals and how this influences disease spread in these islands. The objectives of this study were to examine farmer practices and the movements of pig and poultry within the Pacific Islands using questionnaires and social network analysis (SNA) tools to understand disease spread in the region. Questionnaire-based surveys were conducted in Fiji, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Solomon Islands and Vanuatu with interviews of 310 pig farmers and 491 poultry farmers. Pacific Island farmers were found to have few animals (median = 7 pigs/farm, IQR 4-12), (median = 50 chicken/farm, IQR 23-52), (median = 10 ducks/farm, IQR 4-25), (median = 12 Muscovy ducks/farm, IQR 7-28) and a diversified number of species. A large proportion of farmers (44.6-61.3%) do not implement any preventive or control measures, yet the majority (80.6-88%) did not experience any animal diseases over the past 12 months. Most farmers never ask for veterinary care, never engage in laboratory testing and do not report when their animals show clinical signs. Many pig farmers (31.8%) trade within their communities only and sell (24.5%) directly to consumers which reduces the risk of diseases spreading. Our results show an association between farmers that report having had disease on their farm in the past 12 months and movements of animals on and off their farms. The capitals of the studied provinces in PNG, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands were identified as the most connected nodes of both pig and poultry trade, while Fiji networks appeared much less connected. Our study found that farmer practices increased the risk of disease spread, but this was currently limited by trading practices. The SNA results serve as a basis for more targeted disease surveillance and better use of available resources for disease prevention and control.

Investigations of selected pathogens among village pigs in Central Papua, Indonesia

“…Pigs are an important livestock species in the social, cultural and economic settings of communities in South-East Asia (Huynh et al 2007) and the Pacific (Brioudes and Gummow 2015). More than 80 % of pig farms in these regions are run by smallholders (Huynh et al 2007, Leslie et al 2015, Nugroho et al 2015, and pigs have been important sources of income for people living below the poverty line (Huynh et al 2007, Leslie et al 2015.…”

Combining value chain and social network analysis as a viable tool for informing targeted disease surveillance in the rural poultry sector of Zambia

“…In an unfortunate manner, such movements are known to be accompanied by the spread of highly infectious poultry diseases such as ND and avian influenza (Firestone, Ward, Christley, & Dhand, ; Martin et al., ; Paul et al., ; Scharrer et al., ). Thus, communities that receive more poultry are at higher risk of exposure to infectious diseases (Brioudes & Gummow, ; Poolkhet et al., ).…”

“…The lack of a sustainable active poultry disease surveillance system and the possible existence of communities and occasions where poultry interaction may be high present an opportunity for targeted surveillance in resource‐poor tropical and subtropical countries (Brioudes & Gummow, ). Targeted surveillance involves placing surveillance systems in areas that are considered high‐interaction areas or hot spots for livestock movement such as large markets with traders from many areas (Brioudes & Gummow, ; Hoinville et al., ; Scharrer et al., ). A continuous assessment of the poultry disease situation in these areas would serve to monitor the disease status for the region.…”

“…A continuous assessment of the poultry disease situation in these areas would serve to monitor the disease status for the region. Timing this targeted surveillance with occasions associated with increased poultry movement, such as a holiday/national/regional celebration, would further increase the effectiveness of early disease detection (Brioudes & Gummow, ).…”

“…Poultry movement networks have been studied in some tropical regions, such as the South Asian Pacific Islands (Brioudes & Gummow, ) and Asia (Martin et al., ; Poolkhet et al., ). Targeted disease surveillance systems have been evaluated for their value and efficiency in the developed world (Drewe et al., ).…”