Economic evaluation of antimicrobial use practices in animal agriculture: a case of poultry farming



Lhermie, Guillaume, Ndiaye, Youba, Rushton, Jonathan ORCID: 0000-0001-5450-4202 and Raboisson, Didier
(2022) Economic evaluation of antimicrobial use practices in animal agriculture: a case of poultry farming. JAC-Antimicrobial Resistance, 4 (6). dlac119-.

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Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Background</jats:title> <jats:p>The growing evidence of the contribution of antimicrobial use (AMU) in animal agriculture to the public health threat of antimicrobial resistance has highlighted to policymakers the importance of the need for prudent AMU in animal production. Livestock farming is an economic process, where farmers are using inputs such as antimicrobials to minimize their losses.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Objectives</jats:title> <jats:p>Using a large and unique dataset combining time-series data on economic performance and health records in conventional broiler production in France, we identify how improved healthcare management and disease prevention impact economic performance, AMU reduction and health outcomes.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Methods</jats:title> <jats:p>We analyse the main characteristics of the economic performance of farms measured by the profit per m2, by performing advanced regression models investigating the relative importance of medication and veterinary procedures.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Results</jats:title> <jats:p>In our study, 50% of the treatments (expressed as number of new treatments) are attributable to only 30% of all flocks. There is an inverted U-shaped relationship between AMU and economic performance. This finding implies that the marginal profit of antimicrobials is decreasing, meaning that using antimicrobials is only profitable up to a certain threshold. Results also show that the profit increases as the number of preventive treatments increase.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Conclusions</jats:title> <jats:p>Our findings suggest that policies encouraging farmers to work upstream from the occurrence of disease have the potential to perform better than regulations, as they would maintain a profitable activity while diminishing AMU. Encouraging adequate infection control practices by subsidizing or providing other incentives would benefit farmers and society.</jats:p> </jats:sec>

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: 3 Good Health and Well Being
Divisions: Faculty of Health and Life Sciences
Faculty of Health and Life Sciences > Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 03 Oct 2023 08:34
Last Modified: 15 Mar 2024 16:42
DOI: 10.1093/jacamr/dlac119
Open Access URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/jacamr/dlac119
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URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3173342