Raising Awareness of Poultry Health with School Students
A young man sat silently, inside a school hall. His eyes were sharp; his focus did not flinch from looking straight ahead. That afternoon, unlike other days, the Ciamis Livestock Vocational School (Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan Peternakan) where Miqdad Rabban was a student in Ciamis District, West Java, some special guests were arriving. "Here come the brothers from FAO who want to share their knowledge with us," said Migdad, smiling broadly.
Together with his friends and the teachers, Migdad looked forward to the training seminar arranged by the school to increase students’ knowledge on specific topics. The training was held at the end of March 2018.
On that day, the material presented related to the potential of poultry raising in Indonesia, how to manage modern small-scale poultry farms, including how to secure the farm by implementing 3-zone biosecurity and vaccinate flocks to prevent diseases. "This school has only been established for one year. We are studying here to become well-qualified workers for the poultry industry and contribute to Indonesia’s food security," said the 17-year-old boy.
Not only Migdad, Rika Derita Hartati also feels the same enthusiasm. Listening to the FAO experts talk about the world of poultry and egg production, lifted her spirits. "It's great to join this activity. We now know how to develop poultry farms to support our livelihoods "said Rika.
Alfred Kompudu, Technical Advisor of the FAO Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) who was a speaker at the event explained that he was very excited when the Ciamis School invited him to share his experiences with the 20 school students.
According to him, the objectives of the school are in line with the poultry production and health development activities initiated by FAO together with the Ministry of Agriculture under the USAID Emerging Pandemic Threats (EPT2) program. EPT2 focuses on increasing farmers’ preparedness to face pandemic disease threats such as avian influenza or bird ‘flu. “We don’t just share experiences, we also want to motivate students to work in the poultry industry and contribute to livestock productivity in Indonesia,” explained Alfred.
Ciamis Livestock Vocational School is a social foundation managed by Ciamis District Livestock and Fisheries Service and has only been running for one year. The students in this school come from less fortunate families and do not pay fees to attend the school. Most of the students come from Ciamis district and other parts of West Java, but some are from Sumatra and Kalimantan.
The subjects studied at the school include poultry health, farm biosecurity, flock vaccination and poultry management, with the teachers coming from the local Livestock Office, some of whom also trained under an earlier Commercial Poultry Veterinary Services (PVUK) program, supported by FAO ECTAD and the Directorate of Animal Health, Ministry of Agriculture.
Tata Mulyana, Principal of Ciamis Livestock Vocational School expressed his gratitude for the training implemented at the school. Tata mentioned that the seminar materials were very appropriate for livestock farmers, especially for Ciamis School students who really need sound practical poultry production technical training.
"I am very impressed by the dedication of the FAO ECTAD Indonesia trainers who were willing to share their knowledge and experience with the students. I hope that this activity can become a routine activity in our school because poultry production vocational training should start as early as possible in the students’ curriculum," he concluded.