Poultry producer groups have joined forces with the Northern Agriculture and Forestry College (NAFC) and relevant local authorities from Lao PDR to study the community poultry flock health management approach and associated disease risk reduction at the Puparn Royal Development Study Centre in North-east Thailand. The study centre provides comprehensive technical and academic training as models for farmers to implement in their own communities.

Under a regional project on ‘evidence-based risk management along the livestock production and market chain,’ the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is supporting training of key stakeholders who implement the project in three villages in Luangprabang province identified as having a high-risk of avian influenza introduction.

 “In order to effectively improve the poultry health and management for farmers, we have to look into the market chain as a whole,” said Dr. Wantanee Kalpravidh, Regional Manager of the FAO Emergency Center for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) in Asia.

To improve poultry health and management it is important to understand its structure in terms of environmental, economic and social aspects. One good example is the community approach which was introduced by the Sakon Nakhon Pracharath Rak Samakkee enterprise. The approach focused on how farmers can develop a sustainable business strategy by owning a diverse group of crops and animals which are sustainable in their environment, and products supplied according to market demand. The Sakon Nakhon Pracharath Rak Samakkee is a provincial community enterprise established to facilitate farmers in doing business to achieve a better quality of life.

Good practice of poultry health and management requires farmers’ ability to link their actions to preventing and anticipating the likelihood of disease outbreaks, and know where assistance can be sought during a health emergency. Disease risk reduction is the aim of this capacity building work.

Accordingly, NAFC has signed a Letter of Agreement to establish a Poultry Health Centre (PHC) on their campus in Luangprabang. This will serve as a study centre for the stakeholders to develop strategies for flock health management, as well as practical hands-on training. FAO is working together with the stakeholders to establish the PHC and form a Farmers Group where poultry flock health is actively managed and disease risk reduced.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) have supported FAO in organising the training on Community Poultry Flock Health Management and Disease Risk Reduction. The training was conducted in Sakon Nakhon province from 17^th to 21^st December 2018 with the technical support from the Department of Livestock Development (DLD) and Puparn Royal Development Study Centre.