FAO Cambodia engages livestock sector stakeholders on use of antimicrobial growth promoters
The Food and Agriculture organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Cambodia engaged private and public stakeholders from the livestock sector in the development of possible solutions to the intensive use of antimicrobial growth promoters in farms.
Antimicrobial growth promoters comprise a range of antimicrobial agents administered to animals in order to increase the rate of weight gain or the efficiency of feed utilization. While their use in livestock production in Cambodia has increased, there have been growing concerns regarding their persistent use as a consequence, their contribution to antimicrobial resistance (AMR), one of the biggest threats to public health and food security and safety.
The stakeholder engagement, which took place at a workshop on 7 September 2023 in Takeo province included government officials, veterinarians, farmers and experts in animal health from FAO. The meeting, a co-creation workshop, provided a platform that was useful for bridging the gap between legislation and action, helping to raise awareness of issues relating to unregulated use of antimicrobials and building consensus around solutions that can be implemented.
“We have used this innovative co-creation approach where public and private sector stakeholders met face to face to determine the next steps which we can pilot as an alternative to using antimicrobial growth promoters. This is part of efforts address the spread of antimicrobial resistance and the threat it poses to human health, finances and livelihoods. The workshop helped to bridge the gap between what is written in the legislation and how it is understood by those responsible for its practical implementation,” said Pisey Oum, ACT project coordinator at FAO in Cambodia.
In his opening remarks, Dr Sorn San, who is the Deputy Director General for the General Directorate for Animal Health and Production of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and also the Vice Chair of National Committee for One Health, highlighted as his key message, the negative consequences of using antimicrobial growth promoters.
“Using antimicrobial growth promoters brings negative consequences to human health and the environment. We all will face difficulty in fighting against zoonosis in Cambodia if we do not act now,” Dr. Sorn said.
Poultry farmers who were present at the co-creation workshop took this message to heart and confirmed gaining new knowledge regarding practices to be adopted in order to safeguard human and environmental health.
“I have acquired new knowledge. Most importantly I know I should reduce the amount of antimicrobials that I use in my poultry feeds. In the near future, I will help disseminate this information and raise the awareness within my community as it will be important for everyone to know about reducing the antimicrobials and to introduce practices to strengthen biosecurity,” said Mrs. Korn Phearom, a poultry farmer from Tramkak, in Takeo province.
The co-creation workshop was organized by FAO Cambodia under the Action to support implementation of Codex AMR Texts (ACT), which is funded by the Republic of Korea, in collaboration with the Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) and the UK Fleming Fund.