A value chain perspective to the control of avian influenza in the Western Java poultry sector

Abstract

HPAI H5N1 is considered endemic in Indonesian poultry and poses a major challenge to animal and human health authorities. The complex structure of the Indonesian poultry meat value chain is an important reason for the limited efficacy of HPAI control in Indonesia so far. The overall objective of this research is to improve our understanding of how to implement a push-and-pull strategy in the poultry supply chain to control HPAI infection in Western Java. More specifically, this study investigates the poultry value chain in Western Java in relation to consumers’ behavior and governance of the value chain. Poultry production in Western Java is organized in a highly complex structure. The co-existence of four different poultry value chains in West Java can be distinguished by the level of coordination: the integrator chain, the semi- automated slaughterhouse chain, the controlled slaughter-point chain, and the private slaughter- point chain. In more integrated chains, slaughterhouses held considerable market power, while in more informal value chains, market power was in the hands of traders. Implementation of biosecurity and HPAI control measures was strongly related to the governance structure of the chain, with interactions that accentuating the risk of HPAI. This complex structure is responsible for the existence of a market for sick poultry that has a very negative influence on HPAI control. A combination of a value chain analysis with expertise-based estimates for HPAI introduction and transmission did identify critical actors in the epidemiology of HPAI. Critical actors were all farming sectors, private collecting farms, traditional outlets, and semi-automated slaughterhouses. The poultry business types play a significant role in biosecurity practices; a makloon farm (farming for fee) tends to have a lower adoption than other business types due to lack of incentives. While, the main reason for consumers in Western Java to have a preference for the less safe, wet poultry markets, is their perception of freshness. Consumers had a preference for warm poultry meat, government certification, and product information label. In conclusion, a push strategy, as an incentive mechanism, should be designed in such a way that it pays attention to the interactions between actors in a value chain and their impact on introduction and transmission of disease. Moreover, a pull strategy as an incentive mechanism for consumers forcing producers to improve their production environment into higher levels of biosecurity is expected to be less effective than a push strategy targeting producers.