Using Supply Chain Analysis to Prevent Avian Influenza Outbreaks

To identify opportunities for introduction of the avian flu virus or for a breakdown in biosecurity, we conducted a supply chain analysis of poultry in Bangladesh, West Bengal, India, and Nepal in both formal and informal poultry markets.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with farmers of scavenging chickens and commercial farmers, and with informants along the commercial and backyard market chains, including poultry feed producers, wholesalers, retailers, and transporters. Government officials and others were also interviewed. This provided insights on health and hygiene issues related to current poultry-rearing practices, and channels through which poultry diseases, especially AI, could threaten bird and human populations. It also identified the stage(s) at which precautionary intervention(s) would be most effective.

We also examined marketing channels and participants; costs, margins and profits; and the process of price formation. Divisional markets in Chittagong and Dhaka were visited to survey market operators on supplier intermediaries. Follow-up surveys were done with poultry farmers/households and feed producers on costs, margins and profits. Focus groups and open interviews were conducted with backyard and commercial farmers on income-related issues, and with government representatives.

Findings led to identification of audiences most at risk and most likely to transmit AI in animals and humans, and to designing a micro-targeted communication campaign to introduce best practices to prevent outbreaks. We found a need for better understanding of AI transmission among vendors, transporters, and middlemen, and for information on the severity, and prevention, of the virus among general populations.