Abstract:

The following four recommendations are made in relation to the poultry sector, because poultry plays a very specific and crucial role in smallholders’ livelihoods. However, most of them are relevant not only to poultry but to any small-scale livestock keeping.
1. Define, characterize and quantify risk before taking action. The rationale for doing this is to make animal disease control actions proportional to risk so that they are as effective as possible while concurrently causing minimal damage.
2. Put smallholders and intermediaries at the centre of animal health planning, and invest in partnerships between poultry owners, private animal health and state services. The rationale for doing this is that measures applied will be more cost effective if they are more ”people-friendly”. If people see that there is added value for them, they may change the way they raise and handle poultry. More effective disease control will result from stronger partnerships.
3. Long-term support and emergency planning need to go hand in hand. This is important to ensure that emergency and long-term efforts reinforce and do not destabilize each other.
4. Make the media a partner rather than the enemy. The objective of doing this is to mitigate market shock impacts through effective communication and promote good poultry husbandry practices.