Constraints and opportunities to improve livestock production and health, and reduce zoonotic risks in small-scale native chicken, cattle and small ruminant farms in the Central Dry Zone of Myanmar

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The Central Dry Zone (CDZ) supports 10 million people whose livelihoods depend on dry-land agriculture and small-scale livestock rearing. The CDZ has the highest livestock concentration in Myanmar, but characteristics of livestock production and health in this region have not been evaluated in detail. There is a need to understand the opportunities and limitations and for livestock production in the CDZ in order to develop methods to improve livestock production and disease control, to enhance the financial returns and living standards and, under the one-health paradigm, improve the nutrition and health status of farmers. Therefore, the objectives of this research were to describe husbandry and livestock health management and attitudes of small-scale cattle, small ruminant and village chicken farmers and to explore farmerrs behaviours towards the prevention of livestock diseases and the risk of acquiring zoonotic diseases from livestock. nnCross-sectional studies were conducted with 613 cattle, sheep and goat and village chicken farmers in 40 villages of the CDZ and with 63 stakeholders associated with livestock trading. Farming practices were compared between different livestock ownership groups and logistic, ordinal and multinomial regression models were used to quantify the association between husbandry practices on livestock rearing outcomes (such as livestock health, biosecurity and income generation). Path analysis and multilevel mixed modelling were applied to identify factors that affect small-scale livestock farmersr decisions to vaccinate their livestock against Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and Newcastle Disease (ND). In addition, attitudes, beliefs and barriers to the application of recommended zoonotic disease prevention approaches and social networks of livestock movements and trading density were explored to identify their impact on farmerrs perceptions on the risk of acquiring zoonotic diseases.nMultispecies rearing was a frequent occurrence with 51.7% (95%CI: 42-61%) of farmers rearing more than one livestock species. nRearing animals to be sold as adults for slaughter (meat production) was more common for small ruminants (98.1%) and chickens (99.8%) compared to cattle (69.8%). A substantial proportion of farmers in the CDZ derived their main income from crop production (43.2%), followed by livestock production (23.1%).nPatterns of grazing differed between seasons (pl0.05) for cattle, but not for small ruminants. Larger cattle herds were more likely to practise grazing (pl 0.001) and farmers owning these herds were more likely to employ labour from outside the household to manage cattle compared to smaller herds (p=0.03). Amongst small ruminant households, larger flocks were kept by farmers with longer experience of small ruminant ownership (p=0.003). For village chickens, the provision of drinking water to birds was associated with larger flock sizes (p=0.045).nClinical FMD and ND signs, respiratory and digestive disorders were the most common health problems. Health problems were associated with grazing practices, herd sizes and specific bio-security measures. The majority of livestock farmers (g70%) reported that they were aware of the risk and impact of FMD and ND and were willing to vaccinate their livestock (g60%). nWhile the majority of cattle farmers were able to obtain information about vaccinations from local veterinary authorities (73.7%), many small ruminant (43.6%) and village chicken farmers (58.4%) were not able to access this information. Limited access to vaccines and vaccinators was related to size of villages (pl0.01 for cattle; p=0.027 for small ruminants; p=0.005 for village chickens). Willingness to vaccinate small ruminants against FMD was associated with the perceived impact of the disease on sales and accessibility of information about vaccination. Accessibility to information about ND vaccination influenced the willingness of village chicken farmers to conduct vaccinations. In addition, beliefs in the effectiveness of vaccinations played a major role in the willingness to carry out vaccinations on both, cattle (p=0.018) and village chicken farms (pl0.001). nnThe availability of information about zoonoses to traders influenced their confidence to implement preventive actions (OR=1.5, p=0.045 for cattle and OR=1.5, p=0.022 for village chicken diseases). Traders were more likely aware of zoonoses transmitted by cattle compared to livestock farmers (OR=0.3, p=0.005 for cattle farmers). Appropriate hand hygiene measures (i.e. cleaning of hands after touching, cutting or cooking meat) (OR=7.7, pl0.001 for zoonotic small ruminant and OR=1.6, p=0.073 for zoonotic village chicken diseases) and treating of sick animals (OR = 7.3, pl0.001 for small ruminant zoonotic and OR = 2.2, p=0.031 for village chicken zoonotic diseases) increased the confidence of small ruminant and village chicken owners to prevent zoonotic infections.nThe findings from this research have the potential to inform policies aimed to enhance income derived from small-scale livestock production, to improve livestock breeding and disease control on a farm and village level and to develop strategies to enhance self-sufficiencynin livestock production in Myanmar. They also provide the basis for key extension messages to improve livestock health and public health.n