FAO extends support for Luang Prabang chicken farmers

FAO recently in collaboration with the Department of Livestock and Fisheries of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and Luang Prabang provincial Agriculture and Forestry Office evaluated and shared results, lessons learnt and advocated for sustainability of project achievements under the country component of the regional “Evidence-Based Risk Management along the Livestock Production and Market Chain” project. A two-day final workshop in Luang Prabang province aimed to strengthen stakeholder-wide engagement in risk reduction and disease prevention with the initiative supported by the United States Agency for International Development and Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The workshop brought together 35 participants from sectors including model poultry farmers, farmer group representatives, project steering committee members and national and international partners from October 30-31. 

The project supported interventions to improve poultry health management, promoting healthy village poultry production in the three high-risk villages of Hadkham, Viengsavan and Xanghai in Luang Prabang province with farmers’ groups of 53 members. A Poultry Health Centre was established in the local agriculture college to provide long-term technical support to poultry farming communities in Luang Prabang. To minimise the risk of disease spreading and losses to food security, the project piloted the use of innovative and rapid diagnostic technique, portable PCR, for early detection of novel AI subtype H7N9. 

Community-based initiatives for the processing, branding and marketing of poultry products from these villages were applied to provide long-term incentives for economic benefits and sustainability. Awareness-raising activities for the ‘Luang Prabang Native Chicken’ brand were conducted, including a competition for cooking and processing poultry and a promotional fair at Luang Prabang’s night market to highlight the benefits of sustainably-raised native chicken breeds that many consumers prefer. “The project has developed an excellent community-based approach where farmers have been equipped with good knowledge and practices of poultry production,” FAO Representative to Laos Mr Nasar Hayat said. “This approach not only brings economic incentives to farmers but also helps to reduce the risk of avian influenza and other zoonotic diseases and contributes to food security,” he added. 

The establishment of the Poultry Health Centre at the Northern Agriculture and Forestry College, which provides poultry production training and capacity building to local staff as well as farmers, would help maintain the sustainability of interventions beyond the project life, Mr Hayat added.

Information source: Vientiane Times.