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A cost-benefit analysis of foot and mouth disease control program for smallholder cattle farmers in Cambodia
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  • Socheat Sieng,
  • Ian Patrick,
  • Stephen Walkden-Brown,
  • Chetra Sar
Socheat Sieng
Livestock health and biosecurity Freelance Consultant

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Ian Patrick
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Stephen Walkden-Brown
University of New England
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Chetra Sar
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Abstract

The Cambodian government is attempting to mobilise government, donor and private sector funding to implement a coordinated FMD vaccination program (FMDVP). A necessary first step is to convince the farmers of the benefits of participating in and potentially financially supporting this program. Information was collected from 300 farmers in order to estimate the on-farm benefits and costs of their participation in an FMDVP. Implementing a successful vaccination program is difficult, and farmers understand from previous experience that there may be institutional, social, technical and financial constraints which limit its success. A benefit-cost analysis needs to take into account that outbreaks do not occur every year, not all cattle will be successfully vaccinated, not all sick animals successfully treated and sometimes sick animals simply sold. This study sensitises these variables in order to give a realistic estimation of the farmer participation benefits in an FMDVP. A general result is that it is worthwhile for farmers to participate in the FMDVP if there are average annual outbreaks, or at least two major outbreaks, in the ensuing five years. However, the results are influenced by the interaction of vaccination success and treatment success and coverage. Ineffective coverage and poor treatment of sick animals reduce the benefits of an FMDVP. It is also important that farmers do not sell sick stock and, if they do, that they are able to breed replacements rather than purchase replacements. There are many factors in the smallholder cattle farming system that will influence the success of an FMDVP; farmers will only choose to participate if they can be convinced of the short and long-term economic benefits.
24 Mar 2021Submitted to Transboundary and Emerging Diseases
24 Mar 2021Submission Checks Completed
24 Mar 2021Assigned to Editor
29 Mar 2021Reviewer(s) Assigned
26 Apr 2021Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
01 May 2021Editorial Decision: Revise Minor
Jul 2022Published in Transboundary and Emerging Diseases volume 69 issue 4 on pages 2126-2139. 10.1111/tbed.14207